Monster
by aaorangenime
Summary: Roy gets demoted and a new commander gets put in charge of their unit. Hawkeye's life will be permanently changed due to his appearance. Set after Brotherhood. Contains Violence, abuse and Language
1. Chapter 1

**Okay here's my new ff. I've actually nearly finished the last chapter, but it's about time i posted this.**

**I don't own FMA. **

**Set after Brotherhood.  
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**This story contain violence, abuse and sexism.**

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><p>It all started on the day Fuhrer Grumman fell ill. The upper echelons of the military were left to run the country. They started with an evaluation of a certain commanding officer at Eastern HQ. Roy Mustang. The evaluation was bad. Normally he would work harder in evaluation weeks to give off a good impression. However this time his procrastinating nature was discovered by an undercover officer.<p>

The leaders eventually decided what to do about the lazy brigadier general. Mustang was never popular among the higher officers due to his young age and this sealed his fate. The verdict – DEMOTION. Demoted to Major and ordered to work under the new commander for Eastern Command. He had to reprove himself worthy of his position.

Roy sat at this new desk among his subordinates Hawkeye, Havoc (with use of his legs regained), Furey, Breda and Falman. His old team taunted him about the demotion.

"Serves you right Sir, should have done your paperwork."

"It's about time someone noticed."

"I'm surprised that no one noticed before."

"I hope we don't get another lazy bum as a commanding officer."

Despite their taunts, they deep down felt regret. They had high hopes for Mustang to become Fuhrer and now his dream was even further away to reach. Roy on the other hand kept his head low and focused on his paperwork. Today was the first day of the new commander, Roy either wanted to make a good impression and climb up the ranks again as quickly as possible or make the guy who took his job's life hell. He mentally thought over which would be the best option. He hadn't made his decision by the time he entered.

The man was about 5ft 8 (Roy was mentally happy about being taller than him), small built but a serious face and a sword sheath on the belt of his military pants. He had curly blonde hair slicked back and glasses on his face. He looked at the team scornfully but then walked in front of Roy's old desk, his new desk, indicating he was going to speak.

"My name is Brigadier General Richard Garand, I will be the new commanding officer at Eastern HQ, I hope you work hard under my watch, that is all I expect. Work, obey and know your place. Now continue with your work men."

Much to Roy's relief he didn't take his old desk (he still had things in his drawers that he wanted to retrieve), instead he chose the private office next door. He entered but then came back out. His piercing gaze turned to Lieutenant Hawkeye who was working diligent.

"You," He pointed at Hawkeye. "A minute in my office, now," With that she stood with no protest and entered his office.

Once the door was shut, the men began discussing.

"So what do you think of our new commander?" Havoc said in a whisper.

"Seems kind of snobby." Breda said.

"And arrogant." Furey said.

"Like Mustang." Roy glared at Havoc.

"Even I showed some respect to my subordinates, you have to admit that. I didn't go around calling you "you"" He said confidently.

"I wonder what he's got against Hawkeye, he sounded angry." Breda noted.

"Maybe he has interest in her." Havoc said with a smirk on his face as he glanced at Mustang to see his reaction.

"Unlikely, he would have spoken softer." He said definitely as if to reassure himself.

"I hope she's okay." Furey muttered.

"She'll be okay, she has us." Mustang said with pride in his voice.

"You mean she has you." Havoc joked.

"Better interrupt the conversation before the Lt falls for the cold hearted bastard, ey Mustang" Breda egged him on.

(-)

"You're a Lieutenant correct?" Garand had sat behind his desk with papers in his hand, he glared at the Lieutenant in a cynical manner.

"Yes sir." Riza stood firm.

"And you were the second-in-command under the previous head of eastern HQ," He was no longer asking questions. "Who was this idiot before me who decided to place leadership into the hands of a woman?"

Riza looked at him disgusted, not only at the fact he had doubted her abilities and insulted General Major Mustang but the fact he was a sexist. He was one of those men who didn't believe in women in the military.

"Regardless, you have been given good evaluations by all your superiors and they insisted that you become my chief aid. I'm not happy with this decision, but I'll have to cope. I still doubt the reliability of those reports. Considering the rumours I hear about women in the military; how they perform sexual acts for their superiors to boost their ranks. I did hear that the last commander was a womaniser, I'm guessing you were one of the military women he fooled around with. What an idiot, women have no place in this sort of workplace, if they wanted to whore around, then they should go work in a brothel-"

Riza snapped, she had had enough of his sexism, however she still had to maintain a calm composure. "With all due respect _sir,_ those rumours are not true. The former commander _was _a womaniser, however he never engaged in those types of relationships with female officers. Also this impression of military women is false and overly exaggerated, many women have an important role in the military-"

"WHO SAID YOU COULD SPEAK WOMAN!" Riza stopped instantly slightly startled. Garand slammed his hands on the table. "YOU WOMEN HAVE NO _IMPORTANT_ ROLE IN THE WORKPLACE. ALL YOU SHOULD DO IS GO HOME AND STAY IN THE KITCHEN. _THAT_ IS WHERE YOU WOMEN BELONG!" His voice suddenly became quieter but was still filled with venom and Riza could detect a threat. "Know your place Lieutenant, as my aide you will do as _I_ say, keep your mouth shut and your legs shut, and do only as I say." Riza unintentionally looked at him revolted, he saw this expression and saw red.

"WHO TOLD YOU, YOU COULD MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH M-"His hand had raised to strike the Lieutenant across the face but Garand stopped as the door to his office had rapidly been opened.

Roy stood with his hand still on the handle, looking nervous about disturbing. "Sorry for the intrusion sir, but we heard a loud sound and wanted to check everything was alright." He was no longer talking to the General, his eyes were directed to Riza. Her face wore her emotions plainly on her face. The simple look of fear made Roy firmly plant his feet on the ground, he wouldn't leave the Lieutenant alone with this man. She was no longer his subordinate but that didn't matter he would still protect her and the others like he used to.

"I didn't give you permission to enter soldier. Next time knock before entering." He spoke with hostility toward the Major but more civilised than he had to the Lieutenant. He looked at her than at his watch.

"It's about time for the lunch break, you are dismissed." The two saluted and proceeded to leave. "Oh and Lieutenant, we'll continue our discussion later." With that Riza shut the door behind her and rushed eagerly away from the office and towards the mess hall.

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><p><strong>Garand's appearance is actually based on a Gintama character. There will be special mentions in the next chapter if you can guess who.<strong>

**Let me know what you thought about this chapter.  
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**The next chapter will be out once i have time to proof-read and edit.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay so i've finally finished writing the whole story and will begin slowly uploading the chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own fma**

**I found this chapter kind of boring, but Chapter 3 is definately better.  
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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

"What was happening in there Lt?" Roy asked as he sat across from Riza on the lunch table. The other subordinates sat beside them laughing loudly whilst trying to engage in thumb wars. With them distracted he decided he would ask Riza. She had been very quiet since the incident.

"It was nothing sir." She still kept her head down and ate.

"Don't hide your problems away Lieutenant, open up to me." He then boldly placed his hand over hers unconsciously. Once he had realised however he didn't let go, instead he clenched it tighter. She squeezed his hand back and faint smile appeared but quickly disappeared. She had finished her food and wanted to leave the table but the Major's grip hadn't loosened.

"Let go sir." She said firmly as she stood.

"Not until you tell me what happened. Don't make me make it an order." He pointed a stern yet jokey finger at the Lieutenant.

Riza laughed "In case you forget _Major_, you are no longer my superior officer, so I don't follow your orders." She began to walk away a light smile on her lips.

She waved her hand but didn't look back. "You don't need to concern yourself Major, I can handle it on my own." With that she walked further away and left them.

Havoc leaned over to Roy a cheesy grin on his face. His cigarette was out but he still stank of smoke. "Better get confessing Chief, she's not directly under your command anymore so the higher ups will over look your relationship." Roy nodded in recognition but still remained silent staring in the direction the Lieutenant left. "You better do it soon too." Again he merely nodded.

"Dammit Furey! How are you so good at this game when you're just a little guy!" Breda shouted as he lost the fifth game in a row.

Furey shrugged. "It must be from playing with electrical all the time." He said proudly.

"Oh yeah! I bet Mustang could pulverise you, since he uses his thumbs all the time to do alchemy and paperwo-" Breda received a swift hit across his head, however it wasn't friendly banter like he expected. He turned around and met the angry face of General Garand.

"What are you doing? You are meant to be military men, not little boys. Learn some respect and be quiet in the mess hall." His voice was rising as he noticed that the rest of the mess hall had shut up. An ominous silence filled the room.

"I can't believe that it was you, bunch of lazy men, who were the saviours in Central two years ago! Maybe all the glory has gotten to your head. I think you need to remember that we hold our country's safety in our hands, we don't come here so we can play around like children." He paused briefly. "Get back to the office and finish your work, lunch is over."

He stood around watching until each subordinate had left. Each had a bitter expression on their faces and walked quickly to put distance between Garand who followed them. They all sighed in relief once they got into the elevator and were separated from Garand.

"He's such an obnoxious guy."

"Didn't even let us finish eating"

"He hit me across the head!"

"He called us children."

"He acts so high and mighty I bet he secretly wanted to join us."

The complaints then quietened and all that could be heard was the hum of the elevator. "I liked it better when the Major was boss." Furey said timidly whilst staring at his feet.

"Yeah, those were good times."

"We got to relax more.

"You were alright I guess." Havoc said in a jokey voice.

"Don't worry men, I'll get my position as soon as possible then we can all relax like we used to." Mustang vowed to his men. The men looked at Mustang they could see that he felt guilty for being demoted and giving them an ungrateful boss. It made each of them smile sadly.

"I guess what I hate most about that Garand guy, is that we can't trust him." Havoc spoke seriously whilst not looking at anyone in particular. "If we were in some kind of life-threatening trouble, he doesn't seem like the type of guy who would go out of his way to help his men. He's not someone you can entrust your life with." He sighed. "But, then again what do I know, he could be a Tsundere."

(-)

The room was filled with the sound of pens scratching and the sound of Garand's boots clicking as he paced around the room. He stopped occasionally to look over the shoulder of one of his subordinates.

"Permission to speak to the Major, General?" Riza asked as she picked up another pack of paperwork of the pile. She decided the best option was to avoid trouble and push Mustang back to his previous position and get rid of the sexist bastard.

"Is it work related?" He asked annoyed. Riza nodded.

"Very well then." Riza stood and went over to the Major and showed him the chunky report.

"Sir, this report about that female serial killer who likes to slash his victims is unfinished, we have still not fully investigated. What do you want me to do with this unfinished report?" Garand's ears picked up parts of the conversation and listened in.

"The Slasher?" Riza nodded in reply.

Mustang thought for a bit. "I think it's best to submit what we already have, into the records and then add more to it later once the investigation is complete. Don't forget to fill in the field mission forms so we can be dispatched to investigate." She nodded and went back to her seat. Riza pulled one of the field mission forms from one of her drawers in her desk and began filling in the sheet, the report was left on the side of the desk.

The room was at peace again, until there was the sound of a glass toppling over. The jar of ink on Hawkeye's desk had tipped on its side and the contents flooded her desk instantly soaking the report and form she had been filling in. Of course the blunder didn't go unnoticed.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING YOU INCOMPETENT BAFOON? That report was at least 50 pages long and you've ruined it! The things I have heard about you Lieutenant must have been greatly exaggerated, because if you can't even stop a pot of ink from spilling then I doubt we can place protection of this country under your hands! You will stay here until that report is rewritten entirely! Now clean up this mess."

Riza did as he said but the look of annoyance could be clearly seen, her hands had been far away from the ink pot so she couldn't possibly have spilt it. When she thought about it carefully she did remember seeing Garand near her desk when it happened.

(-)

It was after 8 pm when Roy snuck back into Eastern HQ's headquarters. He had retrieve items from his desk in case Garand wanted his old desk. He stealthily unlocked the office door and went inside. Roy was shocked however to see Lieutenant Hawkeye sat at the desk, still trying to replicate the documents destroyed earlier today.

"Why are you back here sir?" Riza looked up briefly at the Major before returning diligently to her work.

"Just had to get something from my desk." He said with humour in his voice. Roy then quickly opened the bottom drawer and pulled out the item and even hugged it.

"What is it sir?" She looked up again to be faced with that dreaded piece of clothing.

He pulled something out of the fabric and placed it on the chair behind him and then went on to wave the piece of clothing. "A tiny miniskirt!" He laughed as he did. "The first prototype."

Riza face palmed. "What about that on your chair?" She questioned, it looked quite small and rectangular.

Roy picked up the items and look at them sincerely. He smiled while looking down on the two items. "Just some old photos."

"Let's see." Riza said interested but still remained seated and immersed in copying the documents. Roy walked over and showed the two photo frames.

She pointed at the one in his right hand. "This is from the first day our team got together isn't it?" He nodded with a sad smile on his face. "Where did you get this?" In the picture was their team at the eastern flower festival. Their first assignment; to provide security for the festival, ended with Furey lost in a ditch, Roy stuck on a teacup ride, Falman hit by a tranquilizer dart and then wanted to join a herd of sheep, Havoc and Breda getting in a fight with a 60-year old woman and Hawkeye chasing after a local thief. Despite all the problems that occurred, the mission was somehow successful. The picture was to celebrate the event. In it there was Havoc and Breda either side of the old woman (after resolving their argument), Furey covered in mud, Falman hugging a sheep in the distance, Hughes had rushed in to join in at the side of the photo, Roy green in the face and Hawkeye stood in the middle with a calm look on her face.

"I got it from Hughes, he had several copies." He said quietly as he remembered his dear friend. He had been in the East that day to congratulate Roy's recent promotion to Lieutenant Colonel.

Riza then turned to look at the second. This one was much older, the corners browned. "This is from when you were studying at our house." She said quietly. "You look so innocent." She said pointing at the younger Roy with a dorky hair cut, beside him stood an even younger Hawkeye, a light smile on her face. He had walked over to his desk and slowly folded the miniskirt and placed in into the bottom of his new desk's drawer.

"You should keep these photographs on your desk. They obviously mean something to you, you shouldn't let them rot in the bottom of a drawer."

"What makes you think they mean a lot to me?" He questioned, there was laughter in his voice.

"You wrapped them in your precious miniskirt, _sir_." She stated bluntly. Roy laughed evidently agreeing with her. A mild silence filled the room as Roy took the photos and placed them on his desk along with various other photos, like one with him and Hughes from the academy and another group photo.

"It's late Lieutenant, you can finish that work tomorrow." She shook her head.

"That's not an option." She really wanted just to go home, but didn't want to get into more trouble with Garand. She had no idea what the man was capable of. The sound of chair scraping could be heard. Roy sat beside her and began copying out a page.

"There's no need to bother yourself sir, I'll handle it." Riza said as she tried to take the papers away from him.

"I'll stay here if I want to Lieutenant. Besides if I go now you'll have to walk home alone in the dark. Who knows what could happen to you?"

"I'm a highly trained officer sir, I can handle them myself."

Roy sighed. "You should know by now, that things don't always work out as you expect them to."

She nodded. "Thanks for caring, Sir."

It was 9 pm. The two had finished about 40 pages and in the end decided to go home and go to work early and finish it tomorrow. Mustang dropped off Riza at her home and headed home himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm actually quite happy about this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Riza boiled the kettle, it was 2 am she _needed_ coffee if she wanted to finish the paperwork by morning. Black Hayate had long fallen asleep, tired of waiting for his master. She had just placed the coffee powder into her mug when there was a knock at the door._ Who could be at the door at this time of night? _

At the door stood Roy Mustang in his civilian clothing; a light suit jacket and scarf, his look was disapproving.

"And what are you doing here so late Major?"

"I thought you would be asleep by now Lieutenant, I came back to make sure you did." He entered her apartment and saw the coffee in the cup. "You had no intention of sleeping tonight did you?" He stood with his arms crossed leaning against the wall.

"Not really, it would be more beneficial to finish these papers and show Garand a good impression." She said calmly as she shut and locked the door.

"He already wants to pick a fight with you, finishing papers won't impress him, if you don't sleep then that will affect your performance and make his attitude towards you even more hostile."

Riza had to admit he had a point. She didn't know how to counter his argument.

"You need to be careful, for some reason he has a grudge against you. Everyone can see that, just go to sleep and come back to the paperwork later." He began to usher Riza towards her bedroom. "And to make sure you're actually going to sleep, I'm going to stay here tonight as well."

Riza stopped moving. She turned around shock. "That's not a good idea sir."

"Why not?"

"_Why not_? Because you are my commanding office-" She stopped when she realised her error. He was no longer her commanding officer, he was just a co-worker.

"Okay then, you can have my bed, I'll take the couch." She secretly was glad he offered to stay, her apartment got very quiet when no one else was around.

"But you could do paperwork if I'm not watching you so why don't we both share your bed?" Roy half said it as a joke but then saw Riza's serious face.

She stomped towards he bedroom, as Mustang watched her in silence. She stopped at the door.

"If that's what you want." and that was how the two ended up in the bed trying to sleep.

(-)

It was several hours later when Riza jolted and screamed in her sleep. It wasn't a simple shocked scream, it was laced with terror. A flustered Roy grabbed her shoulders trying to wake her. She shook desperately to get out of his grasp, eyes still firmly shut.

"Hawkeye wake up! It's just me." Slowly she opened her eyes to the concerned looking Roy and collapsed back against the pillows in relief. Roy switched the light on so he could get a better look at her face. There were tears in her eyes.

"What happened Riza?" He said slightly touching her arm. She shook her head, eyes closed.

"It's okay. Everything's fine." She didn't appear to be speaking to him. She sounded as if she was reassuring herself. She calmed slowly as she glanced at Roy watching her with concern. Then she remembered her dream, she couldn't stop shaking in fear. Riza had the dream many times with many different variations, but this time it seemed too real. _Roy lying on the floor of the office, blood streaming out of a neck wound. General Garand standing over him, his sword drawn._ The memories wouldn't leave her, and her body shook like she had been left out in the streets in the cold.

Roy noted this display of fear and touched her arms and face, but the shaking continued. He needed to distract her from what she was thinking of. He knew he needed to say this to her eventually, even though it wasn't the best time, he wasn't sure if he'd get another opportunity.

"I love you." He said.

She stopped shaking almost instantly and turned to look at him."What?" She needed to hear him say it again.

"I said that I love you." He said definitely. "I have been for a long time. You don't understand how long I've wanted to tell you this. I never could because of those fraternization laws, you worked directly underneath me and I wouldn't risk you getting transferred, I needed you that much. But that wasn't all, I couldn't protect you if you were underneath someone else. I know what the other Commanding Officers are like with their female subordinates, heck they brag about it all the time. I couldn't let that happen to you as well." Roy let his mouth move on its own and spilled out all of his thoughts over the past years.

"You could have been wrong. Nothing could have happened to me." Riza could see in his eyes there was a distant fear.

"No. It would have been just like the others. They wouldn't have overlooked you, not with how you look. You are too beautiful." She blushed lightly, but tried her best not to show it. "You don't understand they _wanted_ me to hand you over to them. As soon as they found out you would be my aide, they tried offering bribes and perks so that i would transfer you under _their_ command. Of course I declined whole heartedly."

"I say all of this now, because there's no risk. I'm no longer your commanding officer, we are merely co-workers and higher-ups don't care so much about that."

"But Sir, you implied that they like to…um" She wasn't sure how to phrase it. "Other higher ups would become _involved_ with their subordinates, why would they single out you and penalise you, if we had that kind of relationship back when you were the commanding officer?"

He face turned into a look of disgust. "They don't mind if you use your female subordinates as a sex toy as long as it doesn't affect your work. But I don't want that with you. I want a relationship that is more than just the physical. _That_ is what higher-ups don't like."

"We already have that sort of relationship sir." Her voiced was laced with humour. "It's just slightly different to everyone else's."

"True." He smiled at her and with that she took his hand in hers.

"I wanted one too." She said quietly whilst looking down at the hands. He looked at her. "But is a relationship best for you, I have to overlook the fact that I love you and think is this, what you really need. Do really need this kind of distraction?"

"You're wrong. It wouldn't be a distraction, it would be motivation." His face was determined to prove her wrong.

"But do you want this more or your dream?" She was sad when she said it, she knew what he should answer but she knew what she wanted him to answer.

"I want them both. I don't want to wait until I become Fuhrer before we're together, we could have to wait another 20 years or more and in the end we would only have a few years of happiness to share together, I don't want to wait any longer. Anything could happen to either one of us at any time and I won't accept not being able to be happy with the woman I love when I have to opportunity. My life would seem wasteful if I didn't tell you these things that I've been wanting to tell you for years." He sighed, a rather relieved relaxed look on his face. "But I guess, if you don't want a relationship with me I won't force anything on you."

"Idiot. I wanted this long ago, I still do. It would mean everything, to be with you in a more than platonic relationship, after all it's like you said, we never know what going to happen to us. We could be alive one day and gone the other. _I _want to be allowed to live the way I want." With that Roy raised his hand to Riza's face and kissed her. It started slow but quickly manifested into desperate actions as they started shedding themselves of their clothing. All the emotions and feelings of the past years came out at once.

(-)

Riza woke naked and lying next to a warm body. She sat up suddenly shocked at seeing her previous commander lying next to her. Then she slowly recalled the events of last night. A fond smile crept onto her face and she gently moved a strand of hair away from his face.

"I'm looking forward to seeing this every morning." His eyes opened and he hugged Riza tightly. "Good morning."

"Good morning." She returned the embrace and slowly push him away. "We need to get to work." She slipped out of his grasp.

"Yes sir." Roy said saluting jokily.

(-)

The walk to headquarters was in silence. Riza didn't know what to say. Did he mean everything he said last night? Or did she do something to bother him? She glanced at him and his face had a happy-go-lucky smile plastered on his face. Roy hummed slightly, his eyes focused on the view directly in front of him. They had exchange brief pleasantries as they finished the last few pages of paperwork and ate breakfast, but hadn't said a thing about their relationship and how it would change from now. Would he choose to keep her a secret? Or would he tell everyone? Then again, what about his womanising reputation? Would he continue to date girls while he dated her? The thought angered her, but she still had to consider it as a possibility. He shocked her when he grasped her hand and swung it lightly as they walked.

He walked right into headquarters still tightly holding her hand. Several female officers and receptionists whispered to each other. All heads turned to watch the pair. Riza turned her head to look at all the stares feeling uncomfortable. The women watching her were prettier than her, how long would it be until Roy started flirting with them. Her thoughts were cut off when she saw General Hakuro approaching them as they walked towards the elevators. He arched an eyebrow and looked at the two questioningly. Riza noticed his scrutiny and tried to pull her hand away, but Roy had a firm grip on her hand.

"Roy let go." His hand didn't remove. "People are watching." She continued pulling. The whispers got loader and the General came closer.

"So?" She stopped pulling to look at him. "Maybe I want them to see. They need to know we are together." His face was serious. "After all I want to show off my new long-term girlfriend to everyone." He said the last part louder so that everyone in reception could here. The room was suddenly quiet and a bright red blush appeared on Riza's face. Some girls stomped off in a huff, a few gasps were heard as well as a few chuckles. The General's face was slightly shocked but he quickly recovered and dropped off some papers at the reception desk. Embarrassed she dragged Roy into the elevator.

Riza just glared at him, she couldn't conjure up the right words to shout at him. He smirked at her. "What? They would have found out eventually anyway." He acted suspiciously calm and shrugged. "This stops girls flirting with a taken man and other men flirting with my girlfriend." He leaned close to her and smirked.

Roy stared into her eyes and she glared back into his, but the anger slowly faded out of her eyes and she smiled slightly. Seeing his chance, Roy dipped in for a quick peck on her lips before the elevator doors opened. Roy stepped out but stopped when he realised Riza wasn't following. She stood watching him, trying to work out why they had kept a distance before. He could read her so easily and didn't say anything about her insecurities. He just acted on his own in a less than subtle way, but it reassured her, to know that he would always be there to back her up and that he knew her so well. He genuinely wanted to be with her and wasn't afraid of others knowing.

"You still mad?" He turned to look at her, still confused about her not moving.

Riza shook her head to answer the question and shake away her previous insecurities. She walked out of the elevator as Roy held a hand out to her. Her smaller hand grasped his and clung to it tightly.

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**I'd like to say thanks for the kind reviews and support and I'd like to apologise for this chapter, it just feels like filler to me.**

**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa  
><strong>

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><p>Roy threw open the doors dramatically and pulled the Lieutenant inside with him. As expected the other men were already at their desks waiting for paperwork to be delivered to them. They looked briefly shocked when the two burst open the doors, but then the look of understanding dawned on their faces as they saw the hand holding. Garand popped his head out of his office to see the commotion. His face was unreadable, it almost looked annoyed.<p>

"Lt I believe you owe me some paperwork." He didn't bother with a greeting. He held his hand out waiting. The look of annoyance was very evident on his face, there were bags underneath his eyes.

Riza nodded and withdrew the paperwork she spent most of the night on from her bag. She handed it to him and with that Garand left without a word-back to his office. The two took their seats at their desks opposite each other.

Furey was the first to break the silence. "Congratulations you two! I'm really happy for you!" He had a hard time controlling his happiness.

"It took long enough, didn't it chief." Havoc said while nudging him with his elbow. "And here I was thinking you didn't have the guts."

"This was long overdue. But at least you finally made a move." Falman spoke a slight smile on his wrinkled face.

"It was bound to happen in the end. We all knew it would happen." Breda said loudly, a cheeky grin on his face.

"What? How long have you been speculating our relationship?" Roy said quite shocked at his subordinates' awareness. Riza sat back and watched them all slightly amused.

"Since our first day." They said in unison. No look of doubt whatsoever.

Roy and Riza looked at each other and laughed.

The rest of the day went quickly and smoothly. Roy would insist on holding her hand every possibility. While walking down corridors several officers offered their congratulations and smiled. Riza expected Garand to say something insulting but he had isolated himself in his office all day. She really wondered what made the man so aggressive and discriminative against women.

Lunch break came and Roy and Riza went their separate ways. Roy went with the rest of the team to slack about in the office whereas Riza went to the range to see her friend before she went on a trip.

The men slouched in their chairs and leant their feet on the desktop.

"So bored. Where's the excitement?" Havoc groaned, his cigarette had been put out in an ashtray on his desk.

"I wonder how much paperwork we'll get this afternoon." Breda commented as he shoved a large cheese sandwich in his mouth.

"Can't you burn it for us Chief?" Havoc said still groaning.

"The Lieutenant would kill us." Furey said he had pulled out a technology book and was avidly reading it.

"Breda, pass me that sandwich." Mustang held out his hand.

"No way sir, I made this myself." He looked at the sandwich with a hungry grin.

"All the more reason to hand it over. You've just had lunch and you're eating again."

"Yeah buddy, all that cheese can't be doing any good to you." Havoc further encouraged him, he was interested as to why Mustang wanted the cheese infested sandwich. Would he eat it? Breda reluctantly threw the sandwich towards him.

Mustang took the sandwich and placed it on his desk then clapped his hands together and passed them on top of the sandwich. It morphed into 4 round golden coloured balls. 4 balls of pure cheese. The other men were watching him closely trying to work out his thoughts. Without warning he picked one up and hurled it at Havoc. It hit him on the side of his face, and then slid down his uniform. Before the others could react he threw the other balls at them. Falman got hit in the chest, Furey got hit straight in the face and Breda dodged the ball but had to fall out of his chair to do so. The ball flew at hit the wall with a loud slap.

"You're dead Mustang! Cheese stinks!" Havoc ripped the ball of his uniform and tried to throw it back at Mustang. Luckily he had pre-empted the attack and thus caught the ball of cheese and hurled it back at Havoc this time at his forehead. The office filled with screams and wet slapping sounds and the balls of cheese were hurled around the room like snowballs. Mustang kept transmuting the balls into many smaller ones. Furey couldn't see and ended up walking head first into the wall and then fell back onto his rear end. Some cheese from his face got distributed on the wall. Mustang saw this and quickly snatched up some cheese as he was running out.

"Nice one Furey, you are always helping me." He continued to pelt cheese at Havoc's head. Cheese flew all around the room, hitting the window, sticking to the carpet and getting stuck in everyone's hair.

(-)

"Sigh, I'm going to miss being here." Rebecca said as she shot continuous rounds at the black silhouette.

"But you're going travelling, isn't that what you always wanted." Riza was going to miss her best friend, but didn't regret not being able to go with her.

"Yeah, for 3 months." She looked sad but excited at the same time.

"Make sure to take lots of pictures." Riza patted her on the back as they walked towards the female locker room.

"Forget about me. Tell me about these rumours about you and Colonel Mustang." She grinned at Riza, a firm grip on her arm to stop her from running.

"He's not a Colonel anymore Rebecca."

"Yeah, I know. But what about these rumours that you two are together." She shot Riza a sneaky look.

"They're true." She said bluntly and placed her shooting rifle inside the locker and locked it.

"WHAT! Really! And you didn't tell me first!" She shouted grumpily at Riza as she began walking away.

"I'll call and tell you later Becca, I've got to get back to the office and make sure those guys are behaving themselves." She waved and walked briskly towards the office.

When the elevator reached their floor, she could hear laughing and shouting. It wasn't a good sound, she got closer and closer. She could here Havoc's voice shouting at Roy and Roy taunting him. Breda and Falman could be heard cheering them on and Furey's protests could be heard.

She opened the door expecting the worst and a ball of cheese flew and hit her in the face. It quickly slid off and onto the floor. A small amount remained on her cheek. The room went silent.

"Havoc you jerk! You hit Hawkeye." Mustang stood up and rushed towards her wiping the cheese off her face.

"I'm sorry Hawkeye, I'm really sorry. I meant to hit Mustang but I missed." Havoc begged for forgiveness on his knees. Hawkeye's expression was unreadable.

"How was Lunch, Riza?" Roy said nervously trying to distract her from the situation. Her eyes shot everywhere from the melted cheese in the carpet, to yellow oozing in the men's hair to her desk filled with lumps of cheese.

"What did you do to the office?" She said through her teeth.

"What did you say Lieutenant?" Havoc lifted his head. He looked at her hoping she wasn't _too_ mad.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO THE OFFICE!" She withdrew her gun in anger and fired shots at her fellow co-workers. Several at the ground in front of Havoc and around the heads of the other subordinates who were backed against the wall. Furey shrieked in fear and the others remained frozen in fear, Mustang removed his hands from Riza.

A hand came down hard on the Lieutenant's shoulder.

"What do you think _you're_ doing Lieutenant!" Garand appeared behind her. His eyes filled with anger. "Of course the men deserve punishment for their childish behaviour but you have no right to turn you gun on them and open fire at them. What do you think superiors will think when they found out you shoot at lower ranking officers than you. You are abusing your power, woman! Your behaviour is disgraceful."

Roy couldn't stand there and listen to the things being said to Hawkeye. "With all due respect sir, Lt Hawkeye often fires warning shots at us to keep us in line and disciplined. It gets us working and keeps us on our toes prepared for an enemy attack." He glared at Garand, he had no right to discriminated the Lt because of her Gender or blame her for the entire situation. "Also this situation is entirely our fault, the Lieutenant-"

"I didn't give you permission to speak soldier." He turned to look at Roy you could tell he was pretty angry. "All of you go clean yourselves up, you look like a bunch of pathetic babies not soldiers. When you are done Lieutenant, you will return and clean up this entire mess _alone_ and the men will finish their paperwork."

"Yes sir." They all said bitterly and they trudged to the locker room to clean the cheese off their faces, out of their uniforms and out of their hair.

(-)

"I'm really sorry for all the trouble we caused Riza." Roy was sitting on one if the locker room benches, Riza hovering over him with a comb; trying to remove the cheese that had clumped to his dark locks.

She sighed. "I guess you guys never change. You always find some way to stir up some trouble, I think it's about time I learnt how to handle the situation." She brushed the cheese lump out of the comb and stroked Roy's hair.

"No, you don't need to change, after all I love seeing the rash side of you. You terrify me but I love seeing you drop your disciplined mask and just act impulsively." He bent his head back to look at her admiringly and she smiled back. "But I think while Garand is in command, its best that you try and act rationally." She nodded and continued her task.

Unknowing to them, the other subordinates were watching them from a distance. They had left to wash the cheese out of their uniform, Mustang and Hawkeye didn't need to because they had avoided getting hit on their body. The men grinned as they watched their superiors being affectionate.

"They are so adorable." Furey whispered as he put his jacket back on, fresh from the tumble dryer- cheese free.

"Why don't they just get married already?" Havoc said impatiently.

"The Lieutenant would have to leave the military for that, and I doubt she'll do that." Breda said smugly and quite happy at that fact. They all were. Neither could imagine their team without Hawkeye or Mustang, it wouldn't be the same.

"Do you think we should interrupt and get back to the office? Garand will be angry at Hawkeye if we take too long." Falman stated, his hand was already on the handle.

"What is that guy's problem? All he's done since he arrived is shout at Hawkeye and blame her for everything." Havoc said angrily as they continued watching the couple.

"Maybe he doesn't like the look of her or something." Furey suggested.

"I'm thinking he's discriminating against her because she's a woman." Breda stated.

Havoc spat. "Another sexist officer, where do all these bastards come from?"

"At least the Lieutenant has the Major sticking up for her." Furey still had difficulty thinking of Mustang as a Major.

"And us."

(-)

Hawkeye was on her knees scraping the cheese off the carpet, the cheese clung to the carpet fibres and refused to budge. The other men watched her in sympathy as they worked on paperwork. They had been given direct orders not to help. Animosity was quickly rising in the team. Riza sighed again as she continued scrapping the cheese off the floor. She eventually gave up and went over to Major Mustang's table to scrape the cheese off the side of his desk.

Roy quickly grabbed her hand when she tried to touch it. He clapped his hand together then touched the cheese spot which decomposed into a pile of milk. He then clapped again and evaporated the spot. Riza watched him in awe and admiration. He wasn't allowed to help her, but he still found a way to help her in some way. He then pulled out two sheets of paper with different arrays drawn on them.

He pulled her close and whispered into her ear. "Use this one to deconstruct into milk and this one," He pointed to the left piece of paper. "to evaporate the water in it. The paper's been set to react with substances that touch the centre circle. Just make sure the cheese touches the centre. It'll be faster." The last comment had a hint of humour in it. She kissed his cheek quickly. "Thank you." Riza went back to her work. She had to admit that using the arrays made the job a lot faster, but she had to be subtle when using it in front of the door to Garand's office. His door was wide open.

Once she had finished, she began the paperwork for the afternoon. The office was silent apart from the sound of scribbling and that's the way it stayed until about 5 minutes to 5, when Havoc threw down his pen.

"How about we all go out tonight and get drunk?" Havoc said a smirk in his voice.

"Whatever for?"

"Well we can reminisce the past few years working together." A creepy grin appeared his face. "And we definitely should celebrate the Chief and Hawkeye getting together." Roy and Riza face palmed and remained silent.

"I've got nothing else to be doing." Falman nodded agreeing with him.

"Sound's good." Breda had a big smile on his face.

"I don't want to get drunk." Furey muttered.

"That's fine Furey we'll get you a coke or something." Havoc reassured him. "So what about you Chief? Lieutenant?"

"It's fine with me." Roy said as he put his pen back in its pot.

"I'll come too." The men rose but were interrupted.

"Lieutenant, you need look over these reports before you leave." Garand appeared already dressed in a coat and hat. He dumped a large stack of papers on her desk. "Don't leave until everything is done." Then he bid farewell to the men and left.

"Bastard, putting all this on you at the last minute." Roy spat. "Want me to stay and work on these with you?" He had placed a shoulder on the Lieutenant.

"No, it's fine I'll handle it alone. You guys enjoy yourselves."

"No we'll all stay with you Lt. That piles too big for one person." Havoc had already begun removing his coat.

"No you guys go out and enjoy yourselves."

"No we-"

"If you don't go, so help me, I'll shoot you out." She said bluntly. With that they slowly agreed and left the Lt alone.

(-)

Roy got home about half 10 after an amusing night out with the guys. Havoc and Breda had gotten into another fight with an old woman, resulting in them with very bruised egos and heads. He had to admit that the absence of Hawkeye was very weird, they were always together.

He went over to his phone and dialled Riza's number hurriedly. He tapped his hand impatiently on the coffee table as he waited from an answer.

"_Hello?"_ Her voice sounded tired.

"Riza, Just checking that you were home."

"_I just got back_." The sound of Black Hayate barking could be faintly heard.

"So did I."

There was a brief silence.

"_How was your evening?"_

"It was good. Havoc and Breda lost in a fight with an old woman." His voice was laced with laughter.

"_What is with those boys and old women?"_

Roy laughed slightly and then became serious again. "It would have been better if you could have been there." There was a sigh and she agreed with him. She spent a lot of time thinking about their relationship and what would happen in the future. All her possible scenarios had left her depressed.

"Do you want me to come over and keep you company?" He said pulling her out of her thoughts.

"_No_." She said briefly, shutting her eyes. "_Can I ask you something?"_

"Yes, what is it?"

"_What happens to us once you regain your old position? The higher ups won't like you being in a relationship with your subordinate and you can't afford to stay in the same position you are now."_

There was a sigh on the other side. "I've thought about the possibilities, I guess we come stay together and arrange to have you working under Grumman or General Armstrong, they would treat you right, but you would have to move away." There was a sad tone in his voice and Riza herself wasn't happy about being transferred. "Or, we could _publicly_ break-up but maintain a secret relationship."

There was silence again. "_That sounds like a good idea, but what if you get caught?"_

"We'll just have to be extra careful. Besides I hope to reach the top before we get caught and by then I can change the fraternization laws."

Riza chuckled. "_Thought of everything, haven't you General."_

He chuckled back. "Of course and it's not General anymore, but it will be soon."

"_Thank you Major. I'm going to go now._" She said a smile in her voice.

"Okay, Goodnight Riza."


	5. Chapter 5

**Another slow chapter, sadly, but things will get more interesting soon. Also I'd just like to point out a few things: the Frat laws, at this moment, only apply to superior and subordinate; therefore not soldiers of similar ranks. Also, there will be NO lemons in this story (Sorry but I just can't write them)**

**Thank you for all the reviews of the last chapter, I hope you enjoy this one.**

**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

The next 2 weeks continued like this. Hawkeye would receive a large stack of paperwork while everyone was leaving and would work till 10. The men offered to stay behind and help but she refused. The constant working continued in her lunch breaks and before Hawkeye knew it she spent nearly all of her hours awake in the office signing or reading. Mustang was getting worried, they barely had a minute alone together and Hawkeye was constantly tired. There were purple bags under her eyes and she became thinner from skipping lunch. Despite her suffering she still refused to let the men help her, she was too independent.

Mustang punch the table in frustration, his subordinates looked up from their food to watch him.

"He's killing Hawkeye and she won't let us help her."

"That's the way she is chief, she'll refuse to ask for help if she thinks she can handle it herself."

"Did you _see_ her this morning? She looked like a zombie, I doubt she's had a good night's sleep in weeks." His voice was angry.

"Do something then chief, you always knew how to talk to her." The men wanted to help her but had no idea what to do.

"I'll make Garand give her the rest of the day off, and then I'll make sure she sleeps all day." He rose and hurriedly headed back to the office.

He opened the doors to see Hawkeye's head on the desk. She was sleeping. Despite the stress of the past few weeks her face was peaceful. Roy walked over to her and removed his jacket and then draped it over her shoulders. He then stroked her face and kissed her forehead, then gently removed the paperwork she was working on from under her head and began signing in her place.

He decided that when the men got back he would share out all the paperwork between them. He didn't care about getting caught anymore. If they did he would makes sure Garand placed all the blame on him. He was certain that his punishment would be less harsh than any punishment he would give to Hawkeye.

The men walked in and saw Hawkeye's sleeping form and Mustang scribbling over papers. Mustang held out a pile of papers in each hand and without a word they took the papers and went back to their desks to work on them. Breda sat at Mustang's desk, since he was avidly signing at his desk beside Hawkeyes. They purposely tried to keep the scratching to a minimum so not to wake Hawkeye. Each man took turns in watching the corridor for Garand.

Furey was on duty when Garand started to approach the office, he notified Mustang quickly who shook Hawkeye awake. He then traded seats with Breda and began on the paperwork he should have been doing.

Garand walked in and looked at the men questioningly and was slightly confused at their hard work. He quickly went into his private office but left the door wide open. He gave off the impression that he wasn't comfortable around them. Garand didn't trust his subordinates.

The day continued slow and uneventful. Hawkeye would look up and see Mustang and she would smile at him and mouth a thank you. The other men would see this and grin to each other. The afternoon was pretty peaceful until the notes begun to get passed around.

Havoc started it off.

_Stupid General, treats us like dog crap especially Hawkeye_

The note got passed around the other men.

_Maybe he's just in a bad mood?_

_Or maybe he just doesn't like the ladies _

_So he's gay? _

_Bastard needs to learn when to back off, sooner or later there's going to be mutiny and he has __**no**__ loyal subordinates_

The note accidentally ended on Hawkeye's desk, and inconveniently Garand chose this moment to walk out of his office and dismiss the men to leave. He spotted the white scrap of paper and snatched it from the desk. Hawkeye looked up to see what Garand was reacting to, she had a theory that the men were passing notes but then ignored it assuming it would be a bet or mindless gossip. She just hoped whatever was on the paper was appropriate.

The look and Garand's face shattered all hope.

He slammed a hand on the table. "Care to explain this mutinous talk, Hawkeye?" His eyes were filled with anger and suspicion.

Roy spoke up again. "Sir, I wro-"Another hand slammed on the table.

"I didn't give you permission to speak freely. You are all dismissed." He used his hand to shoo the men away but kept his eyes locked with Hawkeye's indicating that she wouldn't be getting out of the situation.

"I'm going to stay behind and wait for the Lieutenant." Roy said firmly and confidently.

"No, it's okay Major, you can leave. I'll handle this on my own." She briefly looked at him, a fierce expression on her face. She didn't want him to go, but she knew he could be penalised for disobeying orders so she stood strong and prepared to face Garand alone.

The men left unwillingly each with a guilty expression on their faces. Roy lingered slightly longer at the door but then left with the others.

"Now Lieutenant care to explain this?" His voice was angry. His eyes unreadable behind his glasses.

"There's nothing to explain I didn't write anything." She tried very hard to stay calm and collect, she really hated getting blamed for everything.

"Don't get cocky. I know you wrote this part '_Bastard needs to learn when to back off, sooner or later there's going to be mutiny and he has __**no**__ loyal subordinates_'. I can tell you're planning something."

"No you're-"

"Silence, Lieutenant. Do you know how to prevent a rebellion?" His face was close to hers. "Cut off the head and the body will die. I'm going to be using that principle. Separate you from the others and they won't have the inspiration to carry on." He stood and picked up the pile of paperwork on her table. Garand then dumped the pile on the second desk in his office.

"From now on, you will work in my office so I can keep a close watch on you." He glared at her as he put his overcoat on. "and if I catch you talking about rebelling, I'll demote Mustang so low that he'll never make it back to his original position." Riza looked shocked.

"I know you wouldn't care if I demoted _you_, but I have eyes. I am aware of the bond you have with Mustang. Demoting _him_ will effect you more." He opened the door to exit the office. "And therefore you'll be more obedient. Move all your stuff into that office by the end of today." With that he left Riza alone in the office.

She was annoyed. Annoyed that Garand constantly blamed everything on her without hearing the situation and annoyed that Roy would have to pay the price for every mistake she made. As she moved the various things from her desk she decided what she had to do. Riza needed to be the perfect flawless soldier and attract as little attention to herself as possible.

When she was done, she finally left at the earliest time in the past 2 weeks. She looked forward to a long sleep filled night. All was okay as she left the main building, but what she saw at the gates surprised her.

Roy and the team stood there waiting for her. When she appeared they cheered.

"You waited?" Her face was shocked, but couldn't hide the subtle happiness that appeared.

"Of course!"

"Are you alright Hawkeye?"

"That bastard Garand didn't do anything did he?"

"If he does anything let us know. We'll take him on."

"Nah, Mustang would insist on taking him on alone."

Roy put his arm around Riza's shoulders and pulled her close. "So how did it go? If he did anything unreasonable I might be tempted to burn all his clothes off in front of all the higher ups." He said it with a grin and he already knew what Riza would respond with.

"He's always unreasonable anyway."

"Then I have no choice." He pulled at his pair of gloves, despite being able to transmute without them. She slapped him playfully across the head.

"Calm down. He's just forcing me to work in his office from now on, so he can keep an eye on me." She sighed aspirated; she doubted she would be able to breathe easily if she was stuck in an office with him all day.

"That bastard. One day he'll get what's coming to him." Roy began guiding her down the street, their men following. "But let's forget about that guy. It's your first day out of the office early, we're going out for drinks." The men cheered at their former commander's comment, and Riza turned her head to look at them fondly (despite still being trapped under Roy's arm).

The walk to the bar was far from quiet. The men recited amusing memories of missions and over time, eventually breaking out into song. They followed Riza and Roy just like old times, their aim was to give Riza some brief happiness which they hoped would help maintain her sanity while working for Garand. It wasn't an exaggeration to say the men hated him with all their being.

They finally reached Madame Christmas's co-owned bar, that had recently opened. The guys and Riza were regulars due to one of the owners being Rebecca. The guys stumbled in eager for a drink, but Roy lingered at the door. His hand loosens around Riza's waist and she looks at him in confusion when he stuck a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of Eastern Bank.

"I just need to deal with some money details, I'll catch up with you guys soon." He kissed the top of her head.

"Want me to come with you?"

"No I'll be fine alone, enjoy yourself, I'll be back in no time." With that he jogged lightly over to the bank.

The look of confusion was still evident on Riza's face when she sat at a stool in front of the bar.

"What's with the look Elizabeth? Confused about where Roy-boy went?" Madame Christmas came over to Riza and placed a glass in front of her.

"He's gone to check that the construction site received their funds."

"Huh?" Madame Christmas, slowly began pouring orange juice into the cup.

"Roy-boy's no longer able to travel freely between Eastern Command and Ishval, he has to stay here and kiss ass. Instead he's sending as much funding as possible to assist in Ishval's reconstruction. Recently he's been sending more essential supplies and building materials. He's finally tapping into his state alchemist's research fund and sending as much as he can down there. He gets the bank to transfer a proportion of the account twice a week into Major Miles's account. He's the one overseeing the reconstruction. He goes down to the bank several times in one week to make sure the deliveries and the money transfers have been successful."

Riza smiled at the thought. "He'll go bankrupt at this rate. That Roy-boy always forgets to look after himself."

"I'll make sure he still has some money left for food and the bills." Riza grinned with pride at Roy, he never changes. When Roy came inside with a nervous grin on his face, Riza went up to him and placed a light kiss on his lips.

A cheer came out from the customers, the loudest from their fellow co-workers.

(-)

The night went by quick, a few hours had gone by which felt like minutes. Riza had to admit she hated how fast the time went. The evening had been filled with pleasant entertainment. The customers lined up to have arm wrestles with Mustang. No one won but Havoc came very close, in the end they passed it off as a draw. They played cards and retold tales about the past 6 years together.

Riza felt some sadness when Roy (the designated driver) had to drop off the men at the dorms. Havoc and Breda, both wasted, stumbled to their rooms supporting each other over their shoulder. Falman went back to his room alone, but with a small smile on his face. Furey followed Havoc and Breda to make sure they didn't get into anymore trouble. Havoc walked into a decorative plant in the corridor.

The drive to Riza's apartment was quiet but comfortable. Her head leaned against Roy's shoulder as he drove peacefully. The time was 11 pm but there were still a few pedestrians walking the streets and the streetlamps glowed a pale orange.

The car slowed and stopped by the curb, the engine cut off.

"Can I come inside?" Roy asked nervously.

"Of course, it's been a long time since we've been together alone." She smiled and grasped his hand lightly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

More days past and office life was fairly uneventful. Riza had to work in Garand's office, but he had very little contact with her whatsoever. The majority of time he spent in meetings and any other time Garand tried to avoid her as much as possible. The gang and Roy had worried at first, but were reassured by Riza who constantly stated she was fine. However the unending paperwork hadn't stopped, but things had changed from before. Roy always stayed behind to help her finish the work, so they could go to dinner or meet up with the guys in the evening. Things got done a lot faster this way.

On this particular morning, Garand was late for work. That itself was suspicious, until they found out he had taken a sick day. So that's how the team ended up in the main office back at their original desks slacking.

"Who knew Mr Perfect posture could get ill?" Havoc muttered.

"He_ is_ human." Falman's face was unreadable.

"Yeah, but there are some things you never expect some people to do. Like Mustang in a miniskirt." Breda himself burst out laughing, the men soon following.

"That would be too creepy." Furey said between his laughs.

Roy lay back in his chair ignoring the laughs; he placed a book over his head in attempt to sleep.

"Just keep it down guys, hopefully I can get some shut eye before the paperwork makes it here." His voice was muffled under the book.

"Why chief? Didn't you get much sleep last night at Hawkeye's?" Havoc joked, his elbow jabbing into Roy's shoulder

Roy removed the book to give Havoc an annoyed look. "We slept _fine._" He then replaced the book onto his face.

"I suggest you keep your nose out of other people's business, Havoc." Riza lifted her head from the book she was reading to give Havoc the calm but stern warning. "Oh and before I forget Rebecca told me to tell you to answer her letters."

Havoc literally stood up from his chair in shock. "What letters? I got no letters! When did she tell you this? She's still travelling right?" His shrieking filled the office, Mustang stirred slightly but his snoring remained constant.

"I got a postcard this morning, she's in Aerugo right now. She'll be there for a few more weeks." A sly grin grew on her face. "She's beginning to think you were just _tricking_ her, by saying you wanted a relationship." Havoc's face dropped in fear. "I think you should give her a call." She waved a small scrap of paper in between her fingers.

Havoc ran to retrieve the paper, once he had it he kept repeating thank you over and over again. And again Hawkeye gave him a serious look. "I helped you, now you have to stay out of my business."

Havoc nodded and ran out of the office towards the pay phones on the ground floor.

"Does this mean Havoc's going to skip out on paperwork?" Breda muttered in a jealous tone.

"At this rate we'll get none." Furey said concerned.

"The delivery lady_ is_ late today."

"She better come soon or Mustang's going to sleep all day." They all looked at their former commanding officer, sleeping peacefully in the chair, mouth wide open.

"She's one of the secretaries for the Fuhrer right?" Furey looked at the most knowledgeable member of their team.

"Not directly, she works for the head office but only in the mornings and after lunch when she hands out paper work. All other time she deals with the organisation of this Eastern Command centre." Falman recited the information as if it were fresh in his mind.

"Well she must be punctual all time right? She's really late today." Breda's face grew into a grin. "If we have no work, does that mean we can go home?"

Hawkeye slapped his head playfully. "If you want work, I can _make_ work for you." A slight grin on her face.

An officer burst through the doors. Roy stumbled out of his sleep catching the book before it fell.

"General Mustang!" The Sergeant yelled.

"I'm not a General anymore." He said back in an annoyed voice. He had just woken up and the officer was being unnecessarily noisy.

"Where's the commanding officer then?" His voice was panicky, several droplets of sweat ran down his forehead.

"The General's taking a sick day."

"It's the Slasher, we think. He's struck again." Mustang nearly jumped out of his seat. The rest of the gang were already on alert.

"He's back!" The tiredness had faded from his face, all that remained was a very serious expression.

"Please Sir, can you investigate it without the General's permission?"

"We'll do it anyway, if there's any trouble I alone will take the blame. Let's move out." His stood, and marched out the door, his subordinates following.

"Breda pick up Havoc and meet us outside." He spoke in his superior office voice.

"Yes Sir." Breda ran down the corridor down to communications.

"Sergeant, prompt me on the situation." Mustang was calling all the shots. He had become personally involved in this case, where prostitutes were slashed to death in the streets, each time with the same 8 cm blade. Every victim fully clothed and not raped. His "sisters" were friends with those in the prostitute industry and they were the ones providing him with information, he felt a sense of duty to protect his indirect family.

"Eastern command's secretary was found in 5th avenue, slashed to death."

"But she doesn't follow the trend." Furey muttered from behind.

"The body was found in similar circumstances. No witnesses, no DNA, fully dressed and dumped in an alley. The size of the wounds matches the ones found on the Slasher's victims."

"So is this body an exception from his usual victims or will it be a reoccurring thing." Hawkeye expressed her thoughts calmly.

Mustang merely said. "We need to catch him, before he strikes again."

(-)

"So this is why paperwork was late today." Mustang spoke bitterly as he looked underneath the white sheet at the body.

"Your orders sir." Hawkeye and the other subordinates stood and saluted Mustang for the first time in weeks.

"Havoc and Breda interview the locals and see if anyone saw anything. Any detail could be crucial so be thorough."

"Sir!" They saluted and left quickly.

"Falman check Miss Anderson's phone records and letters. This attack could be personal. Find out if anyone had a grudge on her or if she came into contact with any suspicious people recently."

"I'm on it." Falman rushed away.

"Furey I want you to search the site where the body was found, find any evidence or trace of the killer you can."

"Yes Sir."

"Sergeant Jones, arrange to have the body removed and taken to the morgue."

He saluted and left to make phone calls.

"Lieutenant, I want you to stay close to me. We'll investigate the area around the crime scene."

"Yes sir." She also saluted and followed the Major.

(-)

Several hours later, they were back in the office frustrated.

"We found nothing within a 1000 metre radius." Mustang stated annoyed.

"There were no witnesses. No one in the area's ever seen Miss Anderson." Havoc also spat out the information in disgust.

"There were no hairs, fibres or footprints."

"And Miss Anderson has been consumed with work for the past 6 months. Her friends say that she hasn't spoken to them in weeks. No letters and only military calls were received."

"This killer is too good. He knows exactly what to do." Mustang slammed a hand down on the table. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Mustang I hear you investigated the Slasher case without permission from your superior officer." Garand had returned. He stood at the door arms folded and spoke calmly but annoyed.

"That's correct Sir." Roy nodded his head slightly, still startled at the sudden sight of him.

"And you also had help from _my_ subordinates."

"That is also correct. They were following my orders as a higher ranking officer."

Garand circled Hawkeye. "Why are you sat here? Your desk is through there." He pointed into the office. An unreadable expression filled Riza's face as she picked up her things and moved into the other office.

"This is a message to all of you. Follow my orders and my orders alone. Follow Mustang's orders again and I will take it as a form of insubordination."

Reluctantly the men saluted.

"Also, I order you to halt investigating the Slasher case. I'll reassign it to another unit."

Mustang stood up suddenly in anger. "Why sir, we are already familiar with the case and previous victims!"

"Calm down soldier, you have a personal attachment to the care. It will affect the investigation is you let your emotions take over." Mustang sat slowly and felt himself grow smaller and smaller.

"Don't forget you have your Alchemy exam in Central tomorrow. I came in to check you men were working since you are I'll leave now." With that he marched out of the office well aware of the glares he got from his subordinates.

(-)

It was 7 pm and Mustang and his men were waiting for the train to Central. The guys and Riza had come to see him off. They kept laughing and patting Mustang on the back.

When the train actually arrived, the men exchanged good lucks and fisted him.

"I know I'm not supposed to give you orders to follow anymore, but I'll do it anyway. Stay out of trouble and don't die. Okay?" It didn't matter that he would be gone for only a day, he knew too well how one person could be alive one day but dead the next.

The men mock saluted and left Mustang and Hawkeye alone.

Riza handed Roy his suitcase and brushed some dust off his shoulder.

"I'll be back in a tomorrow night. Take care of yourself." Roy muttered, he didn't like the idea of leaving while there was a serial killer in the East.

"Yes, Roy." She smiled at him. "Do your best in the exam."

"I will. Try to avoid Garand as much as possible. We still don't know what his problem is." She nodded in agreement.

He pulled her into a tight hug before boarding. "I'll be back soon. Be careful." He whispered into her ear.

Roy then pulled away and boarded the train and waved good bye. He plonked himself into a private carriage and moved over to sit on the window side. It would be a long journey to Central.


	7. Chapter 7

**Things are going to get more serious from now on and possibly more intresting.**

**Thank you to all the reviewers from the last chapter, they really brighten my day.**

**Also to Joseph fisted him=bro fist**

**I do not own FMA and i never will  
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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

Riza was an hour early for work. She hadn't been able to sleep last night and gave up trying. Roy had left and she was anxious to see if he had arrived in Central after taking an overnight train. She knew that he'd probably forget to call, so she tried her hardest not to expect one. She distracted herself by heading to the office early.

She turned the handle. It was locked, so she removed her key to the office and tried to unlock the door.

A strong hand came down on her wrist, the grip was tight, she felt the pain. Garand threw her hand away from the handle in a violent movement.

The corridor was empty when he gave Hawkeye a hard slap across the face.

She reeled back from the force and the sound echoed throughout the corridor.

"Who gave you permission to enter the office before any man?" There was anger in his voice and his eyes had narrowed into a glare.

Hawkeye looked down and her feet. Her face still stinging, she had to force herself not to touch it and give away that she was in pain. He would take it as a sign of weakness and take advantage of that.

"Answer soldier."

"No one sir, it was just what I would usually do."

"Well, from now on, you only enter when a man is present. Understood?"

She nodded head still low, trying to contain her anger at the discrimination.

"You women can't be trusted alone. Who gave you this key?"

"Colonel, I mean Major Mustang." She watched him pull the key out of the door and place it in his pocket.

"I'll take this, since you won't be needing it anymore." Riza didn't like that, she needed access to the office for emergencies.

"My apologies Sir, but it's protocol for every member of the unit to be able to access their office base and at any time."

"This is my decision Lieutenant, I don't trust you with free access to this office. For all I know you could be having secret trysts in here with Mustang." The look of shock grew on her face, why did he have to mention Mustang?

"That would never occur sir, we maintain a professional relationship when at work."

"Why should I take your word for it? You're just a woman. A lapdog for Mustang. I wasn't aware that Mustang was the previous head of Eastern Command and now that I know, I know that all these positive evaluations are a pack of lies." Again Riza gave him a shocked and confused look.

"You two were _involved_, that means all the things said about you in reports are biased. Lies. I'll have to watch you carefully, you cannot be trusted, and you aren't competent. Typical women, using their bodies to trick men and further their career."

Riza couldn't contain her anger and slapped him across the face then looked straight at Garand and shouted at him. "We were not _involved_ while the Major was my superior officer-" Garand slapped her harder than she had.

He pushed her head against the wall and whispered into her ear. "Insolent slut, I don't care about what you say. You are just like the other women spouting lies constantly. How Roy Mustang trusted his life with you I'll never understand. Women can't protect anything." He let go of her and walked into the office. By mentioning Roy she could sense an indirect threat. Would her actions affect Mustang's position?

"Women have no place here. You just cause more trouble." He shot her a scornful look. "Useless bitch."

(-)

Riza perched herself at her new desk in front of Garand. She had to force a poker face, to hide her anxiety. She didn't know what to do, usually she would shoot at them and scare the people who attacked her, but this time he was her commanding officer, anything she did would affect Roy. Garand had the power to demote him so low that he would never make it to Fuhrer.

The men came in noisily and eased her tension a little. Havoc popped his head round the door.

"Since Miss Anderson is, um, permanently absent, the girls downstairs told me that Lieutenant Hawkeye should collect the paperwork from the head office from now on."

Riza eager to leave rose to stand. "Permission to leave sir." Havoc saw the brief look of anxiety on her face.

"Denied." Garand spoke bluntly. He pointed at Havoc. "You can get it today. _She_ will pick it up tomorrow." Havoc noted the disgusted way he said "she", but ignored it and left.

"Shut the door on the way out Lieutenant." He did as he was told, but shot a worried look at Hawkeye before he did.

Garand closed the blinds. For once Hawkeye had no idea what to expect. She felt the dangerous presence coming towards her, but was still unsure of what to do.

"Lieutenant," He spoke lowly so the men next door couldn't over here. "Worm, leech, rat, bitch or whore, which one would you liked to be called, since you are no longer worthy of being a Lieutenant."

She looked at him quite confused, and reluctant. Opening her mouth right now wasn't the best idea.

He slapped her hard across the face.

"I told you to answer. Are you being disobedient to your male commanding officer?" She refused to answer so he slapped her again and then dragged her out of the seat by her arm. His grip was like a vice and left large bruises in the shapes of the his hand.

"Now I told you to answer the question. Don't act better than me, pathetic tart." He had his arms firmly on her shoulders preventing any escape. His words were bitter and he said them in her ear.

Silence wasn't an option any more. "None of them." She said between her teeth. He became enraged and pushed her hard onto the ground. She landed awkwardly on her shoulder, the pain vibrated throughout her body.

He stalked up to her and pulled her up by her collar and pushed her into the wall. Her body slammed into the wall, her back ached. Garand pushed her face on its side and into the wall.

"Tell anyone about this and you have no idea what I'll do to you. And _Mustang_." Riza unintentionally gulped and Garand saw.

His face morphed into a demonic smile. "Maybe I'll tell him about our secret affair; break his heart and torment him emotionally."

Riza spoke calmly and rationally. "He wouldn't believe you even if you told him your lies."

Garand pushed her head again. "He will. That's just the way the male ego works."

There was a light knock at the door, which interrupted their conversation.

"One minute soldier." Garand said quickly. He released Hawkeye who stumbled back to her seat. Garand wandered over to the window and looked out.

"Enter." It was Havoc.

He entered and deposited paperwork on both desks. Jean noted that Hawkeye kept her head low, her bangs covering her face.

"Sir, there's an important phone call for the Lieutenant downstairs."

"Who from?"

"A high ranking General in Central." Havoc laughed in his head, and wished he could use a sarcastic tone.

"What does he want?" Havoc also noticed the sudden interest in the Lieutenant's business.

"I don't know sir, but it's important." Havoc also so the indecisive look on Garand's face.

"Fine, you may leave." Riza bent her head slightly then left. Once out she walked quickly out of the office trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.

She walked quickly and kept her head down. She couldn't stand being alone with that man anymore. It was true to say she was scared. Riza had no idea what to do and she couldn't turn to anyone and all she could do was prepare herself for the next time. He wouldn't stop abusing her, he seemed to enjoy it too much, but she would just have to endure it and find a way of coping.

The woman working in communications directed her toward the booth in the far corner. Her hand was shaking when she picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" Her voice shook slightly.

"_Hello Elizabeth how's the weather in the East. Central has beautiful rays today but I'm stuck in an arena filled with old sweaty men with silver pocket watches." _

Roy's jokey voice vibrated through the phone.

"_Major, _you really shouldn't block up the phone lines. Or lie about being a big General in Central."

"_Oh I'm sorry, but I am the best looking State Alchemist in Central right now."_

Riza sighed, unsure how to reply. She just closed her eyes and listened to Roy's laughing.

"_Has something happened? You sound different."_ His voice was serious, how did he _always_ ring at times like this and automatically know something was wrong. The situation reminded her of the time Pride terrorised her and the Colonel had noticed something was wrong. He could read her too easily.

"No." Her voice was quiet and trailed off at the end.

"_You're lying."_

"No, there's nothing wrong." She tried really hard not to let the shaking in her voice show.

"_There is something wrong, but if you won't tell me now, we'll talk about it later tonight."_

Riza doubted it would happen, she couldn't tell anyone anything. She doubted Roy would believe the rumours Garand would spread but she was afraid of what he might do to Roy physically. He _was_ an alchemist, but even that wasn't enough at times. Garand had no mercy, _that _was the main difference between him and Roy.

"_Avoid Garand okay?"_ She jumped slightly, it was as if he could read her mind.

She had to pretend nothing had happened today. She bit on her lip as she spoke. "I am." Riza tried hard to make it sound as if she was annoyed.

"_I know you will, but I just wanted to remind you. I need to get going soon, it's my turn for the exam."_

"Good luck."

"_Thank you, I'll see you tonight."_

"Thank you Roy." She said fondly, and genuinely. Riza was truly happy Roy had called.

His confused voice came out of the phone. _"What for?"_

"For calling." She said bluntly. She could almost see the smirk on his face.

"_No problem, see you soon."_ And then phone cut off and Riza walked slowly and reluctantly back to the office.

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><p><strong>Reviews would be nice<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you everyone for the reviews last time. Also concerning updates, the next few are particularly shorter than the first few chapters due to my lack of inspiration, therefore I'm taking the time rewriting and improving them. Also I've got to go back to school soon and then I'll have to juggle updates between School and work so I don't know how often they'll be, I'll try and update at least once a week.**

**I loved the idea of Olivier meeting Garand but sadly she doesn't make an appearance at all.**

**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa**

**Chapter 8**

Riza sat quietly at the lunch table, while the men spoke loud and obnoxiously. She had to admit she enjoyed their company as they relieved some of her worries.

Havoc slid over to talk to her. "Did something happen between you and Garand this morning?" Riza froze. "You looked really freaked out this morning."

Her straight face was pulled on immediately. No one needed to know, they couldn't. "Nothing Havoc, things are fine."

He looked at her as if he wasn't convinced. He was about to argue back at her, but he saw how her hand shook slightly. "Fine then don't tell me, but at least tell Mustang." She nodded lightly.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, what happened to your face?" Furey spoke to her in a concerned voice. She noticed in the toilets that the skin had reddened and became more noticeable.

"I fell." Her face portrayed no emotion.

"Must have been some nasty fall." Havoc muttered sarcastically, he clearly wasn't buying it.

Furey looked between his elders, confused at their behaviour. He chose to lighten the situation. "Are you going to the train station to pick up the Major tonight, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, will you Furey?" Furey was about to answer but got cut off by Havoc.

"We should give those two some time alone Sergeant." Riza was getting annoyed with Havoc's nosey attitude.

(-)

Roy half expected Riza to run towards him when he got off the train, but she walked slowly up to him a light smile on her face. She still wore her military uniform, so he assumed she'd just gotten out of work. He looked closely at her face, it was different. Her cheek had red tinge to it.

When she was within a metre, he spoke out. "Did you miss me?" He pulled her into a hug and leaned his chin on the top of her head.

"You weren't gone long enough for me to miss anything." She pulled back and together they walked towards the exit.

"I missed you though. Not a single person as pretty as you. Like I told you before Central is full of old men." He muttered into her ear, then casually placed an arm around her shoulders. He could see the small smile that appeared on her face. "What happened to your face?"

It must be noticeable. "I fell." He didn't buy it either.

"It doesn't look like something you would get from a fall. It looks _painful_." He kept watching her, something about her had changed since yesterday.

"Can we drop it?" Her eyes were fixed on her feet.

"Okay." He spoke unsurely. Her refusal to talk told him more than she expected. Something _had _happened.

(-)

Riza came over to Roy's apartment to cook dinner for him. A quick meal to welcome him back. They ate in silence and had barely muttered a word since Roy had mentioned the bruising on her face.

"How did the exam go?" She spoke lowly, eyes still focused on her food.

"Easy." Roy grinned feigning joy, he still had his doubts about how Riza was acting.

"Good."

And the silence continued.

No one spoke a word till they had finished, they then washed the dishes also in silence. Riza turned to leave the apartment, and head home, but Roy grabbed her wrist. Images of Garand grabbing her ran through her head. She tore the hand out of his grasp.

"It's late, can't you stay overnight." His voice was quiet as if he didn't want to break the silence. A look of shock was still on his face.

"This is my only uniform, the spare's at the dry cleaners and I don't want to sleep in it." She worried that he would say anything about her removing her hand.

"I'll find you something. Please. I don't want you walking the street at night alone." He was worried about that, but he actually wanted to find out what had happened earlier today.

She nodded lightly and backed away from the door. Roy wandered into his room and picked out an old shirt and some shorts.

"This is all I could find that might fit you." She nodded and muttered a thank you and went to change.

Roy was about to follow after her, when the phone rang. He wandered annoyed to answer it.

"Mustang speaking"

"_Chief, it's Havoc."_

"I know," Roy muttered annoyed. "I can _smell_ the cigarettes from here."

"_Not funny sir."_

The conversation went silent.

"_Have you and Hawkeye talked yet?"_

"I few words here and there but not much. Has something happened?"

"_I thought so, but she won't say anything. So I told her to tell you at least."_

"I'll try and get her to talk. Thanks for letting me know Havoc."

"_Just make sure she's not lying."_

"Sure."

He put down the phone and wandered down the corridor to his room. Riza stood there dressed and silent. Her back facing him.

"Riza tell me what's going on."

She thought for a while before answering. "You know back when you were a Colonel." He nodded lightly, her eyes were now watching him carefully. "Did you ever doubt my capability," She paused. "Because I was a woman." She wouldn't tell him about Garand. It would just distract him from his goal and make him do things he would regret. She would endure it alone and not burden anyone else with her troubles.

Roy nearly exploded, he ran towards her and grabbed her shoulders. "Of course not! It didn't matter what _gender_ you were, all that mattered was that I trusted you _and _you did your job well. You worked harder than any _man_." His voice softened. "You should know by now that I don't discriminate based on _gender._"

She believed his words but didn't like the way he had grabbed her. So she shrugged out of his grasp.

He removed his hands, and noticed her reaction. "Sorry." She moved away her head still facing the ground.

"What's happened?" Roy had noticed the way she didn't like to get touched by him, he knew it had something to do with what happened today.

"Nothing! Why do you keep asking?" She was getting annoyed she _needed_ him to drop the topic.

"Because you won't tell me what's happened." He was getting annoyed himself.

"That's because there's nothing _to_ tell."

"Why do you keep lying?" His voice had softened. "Was it something I did?"

"No." She wasn't sure how to get out of this situation.

"Did someone do something to you?" She could tell he was getting closer and closer.

"No!"

"Then what-"

"Drop it Roy," Her voice was quiet. "Please just drop it."

"No," He decided to walk towards her. "Something's wrong and I need to know."

"You have secrets right?"

Roy looked at her confused. "Yes, doesn't everyone?"

"And I have mine. So _please_, **stop** asking." She glared and him and he glared back.

Roy finally gave in, he sighed deeply as he did. "Okay." He put a hand lightly on her shoulder and pulled her close. "I don't want to keep fighting."

"Me neither." He noted how she relaxed against him, she hadn't pulled away like before. He knew very well that something had happened, that made her conscious of where he touched her. He hadn't given up and finding out what happened. Not yet.

(-)

Riza woke unwillingly, it was still very early but she gave up trying to get to sleep. Roy was still fast asleep, his mouth wide open and a trail of drool dripping down his face. She moved some hair out of his eyes then went into the bathroom for a shower.

Roy woke from the sound of running water. His head ached as he dressed. Eventually Riza emerged wearing her black short sleeved turtleneck, that she wore under her uniform jacket. She waved lightly at him.

He was about to tell her good morning, when he noticed them. He stood and rushed over to her, backing her into a wall.

"What happened to your arms and your face?" There was rage in his eyes. His voice was low and filled with venom.

Riza looked down at her arms and saw the finger like bruises covering her arms. What she couldn't see was the purple hand print on her cheek. The look in Roy's eyes terrified her, the look was similar to the one he got when he discovered Envy had murdered Hughes. She couldn't have him working out what had happened.

"What happened!" He continued to shout. "Who did this to you! Which sick Bastard did this!"

She refused to speak.

"Why won't you say anything?" His voice softened slightly but not much. "Who the hell are you protecting?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She muttered and kept her head low.

Roy slammed his hands either side of her head, against the wall, effectively trapping her from escape.

"Dammit Riza! Someone's attacked you but you still protect them! You have bruises all down you arms! Your face has _his_ handprint absorbed into your skin." His face was begging for information. "I _won't_ let anyone hurt you like this, now tell me the fucking monster that did it." He paused. "Is it Garand?"

"No." She lied and tried to keep her voice steady.

"Then who are you protecting!"

She glared at him. "Who do you think! I was ordered to protect _your_ back."

"You know damn well that's not we're talking about."

"The hell it does. Don't you realise what you'll do if I tell you!" She began screaming back at him. "You'll go on a rampage with every ounce of your strength and do something you'll regret." He flinched at her bluntness. "I'm not telling you for a reason Roy. I won't let you go down that path again. I can handle it on _my own. _I don't _need_ your help." She did though. She just couldn't risk asking for his help though. He _need _to just focus on becoming Fuhrer and that meant being liked by Garand.

She smacked away one of the arms at the side of her head and stomped out of the apartment, feigning anger.

(-)

Furey could sense the tension in the office. Roy had returned from his trip to central with an annoyed expression on his face and Hawkeye had turned up even later than he had. She wore a long sleeved shirt instead of her usual turtle neck and the hand print was evident on her face despite her attempts to cover it with makeup. She had lied about the fall. When she walked in she said good morning to everyone except Mustang and avoided eye contact with anyone.

Furey wasn't the only one who noticed. The others were watching Mustang with interest. He had an annoyed expression on his face as he diligently worked at the paperwork. Furey was about to speak out but Havoc put an arm on his shoulder and whispered into her ear.

"Let them sort of their troubles alone."

Furey whispered back. "But did you see the Lieutenant's face. Someone hit her."

Havoc looked annoyed. "I know."

Furey looked back at him in disbelief. "You don't think the Chief hit her do you?"

"Of course _not_, Furey."Mustang's voice rang in the room. He heard every word said. "I'd never hit a woman, and _definitely_ not the Lieutenant, but I'll find out who did and when I do he won't have any body parts left to attack her."

He nodded and believed him. Havoc turned to him. "So what happened last night?"

Roy sighed frustrated and ran a hand though his hair. "I tried to get her to tell me what happened, but we got into a fight and she left."

They looked at their frustrated former boss. "Don't worry chief, she'll tell you when she's ready." Furey: the forever optimist.

"I sure hope you're right Furey."

(-)

Little did they know Hawkeye's life was just about to get worse.

Garand walked over to the bookshelf behind Hawkeye's desk, he was looking for a particular case file for his paperwork, when he glanced over to see what the Lieutenant was doing. She was writing diligently as suspected, but he didn't like it.

He didn't like the way she wrote. It was too curled and feminine. It didn't belong in the military.

The pen suddenly stopped working, the ink had run out, and he reacted.

He swiped the pen from her hand and grabbed her wrist violently. Garand held the pen slightly above the skin.

"Sir-" He didn't wait for her to speak. He scrapped the pen along her skin cutting a vertical line down her forearm.

Riza screamed in pain and tried to fight back. He shoved her own hand over her mouth as he dragged her out of the seat and he held her from behind. He backed into the far corner of the room.

"Don't make a single sound. Don't forget Mustang will pay dearly if you do." He muttered cynically in her ear.

With that he continued running the pen down her forearm one more time as Riza flinched and tensed. The blood ran out of the wounds like a river. All Riza could see was the pen she had used for years dripping with her own blood.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who reviewed last time, even if it tends to be the same people :) Here's the next chapter.  
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**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa**

**Chapter 9**

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><p>Things had gotten worse, Garand had developed a fascination with using the fountain pen to harm her. He had gotten more careful as well, he had moved her desk to the side of his, so when he was feeling anger he could sneak up behind her and gag her before he scraped the pen down her arms. He also avoided hitting her face as much as possible as it would give everything away.<p>

That wasn't all. She hadn't spoken to Roy once in the past week. He approached her but she would walk as far away from him as possible. He would eat lunch with her and the other men but she gave him no reply. He continued to stay behind and help her finish the mountain of paperwork dumped on her but eventually she told him to just leave. Not that he listened. They just worked in silence and went their separate ways. Roy wouldn't leave until she went into her apartment, but she refused to say anything to him. It was worse when he would ring her up to talk to her, all she could do was ignore the phone and it killed her. But she had to do this. The closer they were the more likely he would work things out. She couldn't risk anything. She _would_ endure this alone and stop Roy from being distracted from his goal.

She could see how annoyed and flustered he was as well. Ranting to the men, begging her to talk-this was not how he should be.

Roy was tired of her silence, he needed to talk to her. He glared at every man that came in contact with her throughout the day. He was suspicious of every one of them except their unit. He _needed _to confront her therefore he purposely snuck into work early to run into Riza. She was just stood waiting outside the office for someone to let her inside. When she did notice him, she was too slow.

She didn't expect him to drag her into the nearest closet and then seal the door with alchemy.

"Now we can talk." He turned to face her, his face set.

She didn't speak she just looked at the floor.

Roy grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. "We don't _have _to talk about what happened at my apartment, if you don't want to. I just want you to talk to me."

She sighed. "What do you want me to say?"

"Just tell me anything." She shrugged out of his grasp.

"I can't tell you. Please just stop asking and open the door." She again she looked only at the ground.

He let go of her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I'll stop asking, it's driving a wedge between our relationship." He would stop asking for now, but he wouldn't give up on finding out what had happened.

"Yeah," She muttered bitterly

"Can we change that?" She looked up at him confused.

"Come with me tonight to the military's formal dinner. I promise I won't ask you again, we'll just try and have a good time."

"I thought you _never_ went to those 'stuck-up' dinners." Her voice was in a jokey tone, she sounded more like her usual self than she had all week.

"We get free food and it's the perfect opportunity to kiss higher up ass." He pulled a toothy grin. She laughed lightly.

"Can I take that as a yes then?" He inched his head slightly towards her. She nodded.

(-)

Riza stared at her wardrobe. She had to hide her arms and her back. Funny how all the scars on her body came from men. She laughed bitterly and decided on the purple dress she wore for Armstrong's party estate that covered the neck. She pulled on some long gloves and placed a gun in the holster around her thigh. You could never tell when bad things would happen.

(-)

The evening itself was pleasant. There were very few low ranking officers, so all of the guests were mainly generals and their wives. Roy and Riza felt slightly out of place, but ignored it. This evening wasn't about them.

They talked and talked about little things that held no importance, they joked about their men and they laughed at the Generals and their wives. All was well. Roy had begun to see Riza smile effortlessly and appeared to be having a good time. Which made him happy too. However he looked around at all the male officers he knew Riza saw on a daily basis at the command centre and wondered which one was the guilty one.

So by the time they sat down to have their dinner, they were very happy about each other's company. Riza hadn't been so content in a long time. They were waiting for some more Generals to appear so they could eat.

Roy kept nudging Riza and telling her embarrassing stories about the Generals around their table. She tried hard to muffle the laughs and slapped Roy playfully.

"How much _longer_ do we have to wait? I want to _eat_!" Roy whined and he swung his legs like a child. He turned to see Riza talking to the person sat beside her, her back to him. An evil grin appeared on his face. He slowly put his hand out to grab a bread roll in the centre of the table. He would finally relieve his hunger.

But he never picked up he roll. The butt of a gun hit his hand first and on instinct he retracted his hand.

"Don't be rude. Wait till everyone's here." Riza quickly slipped the gun back into her holster.

"But Riza!" He whined louder this time. Everyone at the table glared at the couple. Several tutted and shook their heads in disapprovingly. They didn't like the way Riza talked and treated him. She seemed so disrespectful and violent.

"I'm going to the bathroom. Don't eat anything while I'm gone." She waved her finger mockingly at him and departed.

When Riza had finished her business in the bathroom, the corridor was dark. The only light came faintly from the grand hall. Because of that she didn't see her attacker.

He slammed her against the wall. Riza reached for her gun.

"I wouldn't pull that out if I were you." It was Garand. She let her arm drop to her side and prayed for him to leave quickly.

He put a hand around her throat and pushed her into the wall.

"I watched you attack Major Mustang." She made eye contact with him confused, "What right do you have to abuse a man, a higher ranking officer at that!" His hand pushed her further into the wall.

"Your disobedience is disgraceful." He put both hands around her neck and began strangling her. She felt the grip tighten and the air entering her body decrease. She grabbed his arms in attempt to get him to remove them, when that didn't work she hit his arms rapidly. When that didn't work she tried to scratch and claw at his face.

"Damn Bitch! Know your place!" He lifted her and shook her, arms still around her neck.

When he had enough, he released his grasp and Hawkeye fell onto the fall gasping for air. Garand pulled her up by her hair. He pushed her against the wall again and put his arms either side of her head.

"Women don't belong in the military. If you intend to be in a relationship you should lower yourself for him. You _should_ serve _him_ with no regards to yourself. You are merely his possession therefore you shouldn't be attacking him!"

He leaned towards her and glared at her. "You can't be soldier and you certainly aren't worthy of being Mustang's girlfriend." He pushed her face into the wall. "I have an order for you: Become a _male_ military officer or leave the military and act like a proper woman."

She looked at him, terrified. "Do that and this will stop and Mustang will be more likely to regain his old position." Riza looked at him as a sign of hope.

"I expect you to get working on it soldier." He removed his hands and began walking away. "But it's not like you don't deserve this, after everything you've done in Ishbal. It's about time someone beat some sense into you."

Riza rushed into the toilet. She splashed water on her face continuously. She looked at her face in the mirror and pulled the collar of her dress down slightly to get a look at her neck.

There was already purple bruising around it. She shook, she placed two hands on the counter to balance herself, but the shaking didn't stop.

(-)

Garand's words still echoed through her head as she stumbled slowly out of the bathroom. The shaking had stopped and she had made her decision.

In order to get Mustang to the top she needed to stay in the military. Also becoming a normal housewife just didn't seem normal for her. Therefore she had to become a male officer. She hadn't worked out how things would work out, but Garand hadn't given her a time limit. So she would work towards the goal slowly. He probably meant speaking in a low voice and acting more masculine, she wasn't too sure really.

The corridor was still dark, but from the light coming from the hall revealed a man stood waiting. Roy approached her.

"You took a long time. Is everything all right?" He looked at her accusingly. Her eyes face was still wet from where she splashed her face with water. She still nodded though.

He cupped her chin and kissed her. "Maybe we should go eat now Roy." She didn't sound angry or annoyed. She sounded robotic.

"Maybe we should go home and I'll eat you." He kissed her again and slowly moved to kiss her neck. He was pushing the collar down with his face when Riza pushed him away. He was getting too close, any further he would have seen the bruises.

He looked at her confused and rejected. Roy moved to touch her shoulder and apologize when she moved away again.

Riza had realised he was too close. She was reminded of Garand's order to become a man. If she was Roy's girlfriend then that would defeat the idea of being a man. Their relationship was an obstacle.

She thought about the options rationally. She could break up the relationship and keep him safe and get him closer to the top. She could risk her happiness for that cause, right?

She would try.

Roy no longer moved towards her. "I'm sorry?" He wasn't sure what he was apologizing about but he still tried.

"No, I'm sorry." She kept her eyes fixed to the ground. "I can't continue with this relationship." Her chest ached in pain. "It's for the best." Her voice broke slightly at the end.

Roy's heart, on the other hand, shattered. His mouth fell and words took a long time to form. "Why?" Was the only thing that came out. He was shaking.

When she didn't reply he became more coherent. He shook her shoulders. "What are you thinking about? Tell me what's going on!" He shouted in desperation. A tear was forming slightly in his eye.

She made eye contact with him briefly and saw the water. It was about to trigger her as well.

Riza pushed him away and ran into the darkness, repeating again that she was sorry. He stood there dumbstruck.

He wanted to run but his legs wouldn't move. Instead he fell to his knees, palms on the floor.

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><p><strong>I don't really like how it came out but I hope you guys enjoyed it. Let me know what you think :)<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, sorry this chapter took so long I've been working in the mornings and at night and getting stuff ready for school. I'd like to say thank you to all the readers for putting up with my slow updates.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa**

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><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

Roy was in denial. He sat at his desk clicking his pen, desperately trying to work out what he had done wrong. What had he done that had driven her away? She had been absolutely fine before she left for the toilet, they had been flirting and laughing all evening. Then she left for those 30 minutes and had changed all of a sudden. He really felt that he was getting through to her.

The men looked at him nervously. He just kept clicking that pen. They were waiting for Hawkeye to bring the paperwork in. They kept looking at each other afraid to speak and Mustang kept staring at the same spot on the wall, clicking the pen unevenly. Judging by the way he looked, they concluded silently that his plans hadn't gone well last night. They kept looking at each other then back at him then back at each other. It was only a matter of time before they cracked.

The sudden opening of the door caught everyone off guard. The men fumbled and pretended to be looking at their desks. Hawkeye entered with her hair tied into a tight bun creating an appearance that she had short hair and bandages wrapped tightly around her chest to flatten her breasts as much as possible. Mustang stopped clicking the pen and watched Hawkeye closely. She deposited piles on each desk but when she got to Mustang's he grabbed her wrist.

"Can we talk?" He whispered trying to be inconspicuous.

Riza felt the sting from her cuts and pulled her hand back quickly. "There's nothing to say."

She left him and went into Garand's office. "Shut the door." Riza complied reluctantly.

"So, Lieutenant, what have you done to work towards me orders? Will you stay in the military or will you leave?" He threaded his fingers and looked at her with cold eyes as she went around to her desk

"I will stay in the military, sir." She saluted slightly doubtful that it was the right thing to do. She also lowered her voice as much as possible as well.

A glass cup flew at her. It hit the wall to her left but the shards cut her face and some lodged themselves in her arm.

"You don't look manly enough." He muttered so the others couldn't hear and stood, before the door burst open. He rushed over to Hawkeye faking concern.

Mustang and the others were at the door. Furey spoke first. "Sorry for the intrusion sir, but we heard a loud noise. We thought it could be an assassination attempt." Not that they really cared.

However, Mustang wasn't listening. His eyes had zoomed in on Hawkeye in the corner cradling her arm full of glass. He stalked towards her.

"What happened?" Breda said.

"She slipped and dropped a glass. Clumsy little thing." His voice had softened convincingly. She could see what he was doing. Garand was trying to fabricate a friendly relationship between him and her, so the men wouldn't suspect a thing.

Roy ignored him and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder so that her uninjured arm leaned against his body. He pulled her towards to door.

"I'll take her to the infirmary." Before Garand could protest they had left the room.

They moved at a swift pace. Riza tried to shrug Roy off. "Let go, Sir." He ignored her and kept pushing her faster. "Roy, let go. I can go by myself."

"I know you can but I want to come with you." She looked at him her feelings muddled. She should be angry at him, but she couldn't help but feel slight happiness about being with him. She would allow herself a few minutes alone with him, before she would build up a wall between him.

(-)

Roy stood with his arms crossed leaning against a wall, while Riza was examined by the infirmary doctor. He had placed a patch on her cheek and extracted the glass fragments that were lodged in her jacket sleeve. He had then requested that she remove the long sleeve shirt she wore.

She glanced at Roy then shook her head defiantly.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, if I don't see your wounds I can see how serious they are. But no matter how serious they are, they still need treating." She shook her head again. If she removed the shirt they would see the cuts down her wrists.

Roy stepped forward. "Give us a few minutes." The doctor nodded in understanding and pulled a curtain around the gurney.

He knelt so he could look Riza in the eye. "I don't know what you are trying to hide, but we need to see your arms."

"No."

Roy stood angrily. "I don't care about what you are hiding! Just let us treat your wounds! Don't make me make it an order."

"Just don't flip out okay?" He nodded lightly and then called for the doctor to return. Riza removed her shirt leaving her in a vest, her arms and neck fully exposed.

What Roy saw caused him to shake in anger; it took every ounce of his strength not to act out. He sucked in a deep breath then bit his lip and just stood and watched.

The doctor was equally shocked. He spoke as he examined the wounds. "These small cuts are consistent with the glass incident you mentioned, but these longer scratches are deeper and older. The bruising around the neck implies strangulation and the discolouration of the bruises on your wrists imply continuous restraining over a longer period of time." When Riza didn't reply he merely cleaned and bandaged the wounds in silence. He glanced at Roy and saw him biting his lip viciously, his foot also began tapping.

When he had finished he sighed and stood. He crossed his arms and pushed his glasses further up his old nose. "Miss Hawkeye, you have the right not to answer, but I must ask." He glanced briefly at the Major then back at Hawkeye. "Are you a victim of domestic violence?"

"No." She didn't lift her head. It remained set on the floor in front of her.

"Then are these wounds self-inflicted?" She turned away. It would be in her best interest to lie and pretend she caused the wounds herself, but she didn't like the idea of lying about something so delicate. The best thing to do would be to remain silent.

The doctor sighed again and took Roy outside the room. He could tell he was trying very hard to contain himself.

"Doctor… could it really be self-harm?" He gritted his teeth as he spoke.

"It's possible. By not answering, it certainly implies it."

"What about the bruises on her arms? She couldn't have done them herself."

"It is possible, she could have been restraining herself with rope or chains or wire anything really."

"She had a hand-like bruise on her face a week ago, what about that?"

"She could have slapped herself hard." He put a finger on his chin.

"What about the bruises around her neck?"

"She could have attempted to hang herself." That struck a chord with Roy, colour drained out of his face.

"She's suicidal?" The doctor nodded.

"Any ideas why?"

"Plenty! Like me she fought in the Ishbal war and slaughtered hundreds of people, but we decided suicide was the cowards way out. It's not the way to atone; it's just running away from our guilt."

"Well maybe, she's decided the guilt is too much for her to handle," The doctor patted his shoulder. "Go have a talk with her."

Roy rushed back into the room to see Riza fully dressed again and ready to go.

"Sit Riza, we'll be here for a while."

"I have to get back to work sir." She tried to walk past him.

"Sit down Lieutenant!" He shouted without turning his head. She sat still slightly startled.

His eyes had darkened and for once in Riza's life she couldn't read him.

"Is it true? Are you harming yourself?" She didn't reply, just turned her head away from him. She couldn't lie to his face.

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. "Are you suicidal!"

"No!" She shook her head rapidly.

"Are you lying to me?"

"No." He let go of her and sat beside her on the bed.

"Heh, things have been a mess lately right?" He muttered bitterly as he covered his face with his hand.

"Sir?"

"You've been going through a hard time lately and I just kept making things more stressful for you. I don't know what's been going on but I haven't exactly been supportive. You're battling your own demons and all I've done is think about all I want. I _want_ to protect you from everything, but I know now that I can't protect you from the things in your mind." He took her hands in his. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you. We don't need to have a relationship but I just want to be there for you when you're going through a hard time." Riza was touched by his words, but no matter what she couldn't tell him what Garand was doing.

"Rely on me when you have to. I don't want you going through this alone." Roy was genuinely scared that one day Riza would cut herself deep enough to bleed out and die. He didn't want that. He had lost too many people.

That's when he felt a droplet on his hand.

He turned to Riza, her tears running rapidly down her face, but despite that she was trying incredible hard not to make any sounds. Her body shook in response. Roy pulled her into his arms.

He kissed the side of her head and she let the sobs consume her. She gripped his uniform jacket tightly and cried. She cried for the pain she felt over the past week and for Roy. She hated herself for hurting him and for being weak. Shewanted to stick with him through all bad times. As her sobs slowed, she began to compose herself and Roy's grip loosened. She took his face in her hands and kissed him. That itself was alerted Roy that she wanted to be with him, he kissed her back in response and pulled her into a hug. He patted her back as she laid her head against his chest.

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><p><strong>To be frank this is my most hated chapter, I felt so awkward writing this.<strong>

**I'm back to school full time now. Updates could take some time, but if I haven't updated in over 2 weeks give me a nudge and tell me to hurry up :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**SO sorry this took forever to get out, and not much really happens in it either, school is getting hectic and work is going to get worse now that there's less staff, but I'll try and update when I can, probably at the weekend. So anyway I hope you guys enjoy this rather uneventful chapter.**

**Disclaimer: FMA doesn't belong to me**

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><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

"Come on, we better get back." They had been sat in the infirmary for hours. Roy pulled Riza up by her arm and wiped her face.

She just looked at him as he did so. "Come on cheer up. Where's the brave Riza I know?" He joked.

"With all due respect sir, that Riza just had a mental breakdown." She went back to normal fairly quickly. "Thanks Roy." He patted her back and encouraged her to keep walking. There was a smile on his face.

They were nearly back at the office when Riza broke the silence. "Roy, can we go out tonight?" She looked at the floor as if she was embarrassed. He nodded with a big grin on his face. Riza suddenly felt lighter and glad that someone else would be helping her, supporting her even if it wasn't directly. Even if she couldn't tell Roy everything, at least he was there.

(-)

Garand let them back in to the office with no questions asked. The guys took one look at Roy and saw the change in expression. The stress was gone; maybe they had resolved their problems.

"Sir, you have a telegram from Emperor Yao." Furey passed the square piece of paper towards Mustang. He read it with interest as he had been expecting to hear from Ling for a while now.

_General Mustang,_

_I've taken into consideration the fragile ties between Amestris and Xing and I too believe an alliance would be beneficial. I've decided to take you up on your offer to build a railway track from Xing to Amestris. _

_We will need to arrange a meeting to discuss construction and further alliances, contact us and arrange a time, date and location._

_-Emperor Ling Yao_

Mustang was excited, if he could build alliances with other countries, then there would be less need for a strong military. And eventually the state would more likely turn democratic. He's got the green light from Ling, but the only problem is: he is no longer a General. Therefore he has to run it by Garand and get his approval.

When he did ask Garand he wasn't half surprised of the answer.

"Request denied, Major."

"Why is that sir!" Riza looked up briefly at his flustered appearance. "This could strengthen out ties with Xing and-"

"But in doing so, we waste precious Amestrian resources! And why? Just to help some backward country which has never cared about the affairs of _our_ country."

"That's not true, the emperor-"

"Your opinion is biased Major, you have a Xingese background and therefore your loyalty to this country is doubtable."

Riza wanted to stand up and defend Roy's love of his country. Her hands curled up in anger but she saw Roy's expression. He looked at her briefly and shook his head.

Garand continued. "I refuse to give my approval, Major. Get back to work and pretend like the idea never crossed your mind."

"Yes _sir._" Roy muttered bitterly and shut the door of his office harder than necessary.

(-)

Roy wrote his message carefully but everyone could see his aggression towards the pen.

_Dear Emperor Yao,_

_I regret to tell you that I am no longer a General therefore do not have the authority to approve the construction. The new commanding officer at Eastern HQ refuses to approve the order, therefore the Railway tracks will not be built. Yet. I am doing everything in my power to regain my position and strengthen ties between both our countries. I will contact you when I'm back at the top._

_-Roy Mustang_

Still annoyed he sealed the envelope and trudged unwillingly towards the postal bureau. What was Garand's problem? Why couldn't he just approved the request? He shoved the envelope into a box and wandered slowly back towards the office. He was in a procrastinating mood.

Sergeant Jones ran past him in a hurry, nearly bumping his shoulder. He ran backwards as he apologized and saluted.

"Wait Sergeant. What's with the rush?"

"You don't know? I thought you were the commanding officer on this case." Roy looked at him confused.

"It's the Slasher, he's struck again." Roy's eyes widened and his mouth dropped slightly.

"Are you on your way to the scene?" He was already walking towards the sergeant.

"Yes, sir." Sergeant Jones also began moving.

"I'm coming too." Roy over took the sergeant. The sergeant rushed to keep up with his stride.

"Are you on this case sir?"

"No, I was removed from it." His voice was bitter.

"Then you can't be at the crime scene." Jones voice wavered slightly as if he was slightly scared of the major. Despite being demoted several ranks Roy Mustang still gave of the aura of a powerful authority figure. And he still acted like one.

Roy didn't reply just walked faster. "Where is the crime scene?"

"Just outside HQ's resources building."

"What!" He stood abruptly to look at the sergeant.

"Go see yourself sir." The sergeant didn't like watching the Major glare at him so rushed further forward. "But if anyone asks I didn't tell you anything."

When Roy arrived at the scene, several minutes after the Sergeant, the smell of iron was strong and the yellow tape was everywhere. He tried to duck under the tape to get a closer look at the body but was stopped by Colonel Douglas.

"Major, I believe you were under _direct_ orders _not_ to investigate this case. Stay behind the tape."

But Roy had already seen it. The blue military uniform stained with blood, poking out from underneath the white sheet placed over the body.

He called for sergeant Jones straight away and demanded the official report as soon as it was ready. The scared sergeant agreed reluctantly intimidated by the harsh glares.

(-)

It was shortly after lunch when the sergeant rushed into the office with the file. Everyone was loitering around the desks since Garand hadn't returned from lunch yet. The young sergeant was evidently out of breath from running as he sloppily trudged towards the Major.

"I'm sorry sir, this is all I could get. Every officer below the rank of Major is being dismissed. It's getting too high profile."

Mustang muttered his thanks as he looked at the papers in the file and allowed the Sergeant to leave. He read the case file out load.

"Monday 15th October 1917, two victims found in front of the resources building of Eastern Headquarters. Both found in similar circumstances-fully clothed, with a single sword wound through the neck. The weapon approximately 8cm wide.

Cause of death: Loss of blood

First victim- Aria Sparrow, Eastern Command's temporary Librarian, recently transferred Central, aged 29, engaged.

Second victim- Hayley Seagle, Immigrant from Aerugo, recently became a famous reporter, aged 34, married."

The all were thinking the same thing but were afraid to break the silence.

Furey was the one who decided to break it. "Looks like the Slasher's victims have changed from prostitutes then."

"Yeah, he's going after career orientated women now." Breda muttered bitterly.

Havoc noted Mustang's hand holding the papers were trembling. His hand on the desk had curled up into a first.

"Do you notice something about the surnames of the most recent victims?" Mustang said through his teeth, his hair hung over his eyes hiding his expression.

"Sparrow and Seagle?" Havoc looked at him confused.

"They're all names of birds." Mustang forced the words out of his mouth, then bit down on his lip.

Everyone turned towards Hawkeye.

"It could be a coincidence sir." She was still as calm as always.

"No, I can't accept that." He walked over to her. "Move into my apartment."

"Sir, you are overreacting." He placed a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"What if you're next?

"I won't be."

"You can't ignore these similarities. Young career orientated women, with surnames of names of birds."

"It's a coincidence."

"I doubt it. I don't want to argue about this, just move in with me and trust me." He removed his hand and his voice lowered. "I can watch your back better this way." Riza tried to protest as Roy sighed deeply. "Don't make me make this an order."

Hawkeye sighed loudly. "Okay then." They had had enough arguments recently.

(-)

The Major and Lieutenant wandered slowly towards the exit after a mountain stack of paperwork. They were back on speaking terms and even flirted a little. Mustang had a knack at starting conversation from the weirdest things.

"If Furey and Alphonse got into a fight who do you think would win?" Roy grinned and put his hand under his chin, watching Riza's reaction.

"Does it really matter?" She sighed.

"Yes, _I know_ who would win, but I want your opinion as well."

"Alphonse of course, he has alchemy."

"No no, this is an old fashioned fist fight. No alchemy is allowed." He waved his finger in her face. Riza never wanted to snap off his finger more.

"I don't know, and I really don't care."

"But chose someone." He whined at her, desperate to tell her _his_ answer.

"Fine, Alphonse."

"Nah Alphonse couldn't hold a candle to our Furey!" Riza swore he was like a kid sometimes.

"Why?" She decided to humour him.

"Because Furey is part of _my_ elite team of course and that kid is freaking scary when mad. I still remember that time Havoc hid one of his electronic things and he found out. Even Havoc screamed like a little girl." Roy spoke with pride about his youngest subordinate.

"Furey's not the only one that's scary when mad." Her voice was low and she made no eye contact.

Roy stopped walking and looked at her. "It's not the same with me. I'm a big military guy, Furey's a little guy."

Riza face palmed. "You're not that big. You're _short _compared to Armstrong."

He grabbed her shoulders and stared at her in the eyes serious. "Anyone compared to Armstrong looks short." Riza chuckled and they carried on their walk to the exit. The telephone booth caught Roy's attention and he quickly turned to Riza.

"Can you wait a bit, I need to go and check that Ishval received their builders?" She nodded and Roy rushed over to the phone. Garand slid over from where he was dealing with admin work and approached Hawkeye.

"What does he know?" Garand casually leaned against the wall next to Riza. His voice was low.

"Nothing. He just thinks I'm suicidal." She didn't lift her gaze from Roy. She watched him as he spoke cheerfully into the phone.

"Good, keep it that way." He didn't say anything until Roy began making his way towards them.

He then spoke loudly making sure he heard. "Have a nice evening. I'll see you tomorrow." He patted her shoulder and walked away. "Oh and I'd just thought I'd let you know Major since you have such a huge fascination with the Slasher case. We've apprehended a suspect, he's currently being questioned." He nodded at Mustang as he left. Garand was getting better and better at acting. The bastard.

"You and Garand are chummy all of a sudden. What happened?" He was mildly confused, had Garand's act had fooled him?

"We worked out our differences." Riza muttered avoiding eye contact.

"Oh, Okay." He seemed to buy it, and with that he wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her towards the exit despite her protests.

(-)

The drive home was in a comfortable silence. Riza sat in the passenger seat staring out the window whilst Roy kept eyes on the road. They were on their way to Riza's apartment to pick up some of her belongings before heading to Roy's apartment.

Roy removed his hand from the steering wheel and placed it over Riza's. She turned and looked at him.

"Are you mad at me?" His eyes were still focused on the road but appeared to be staring beyond.

"No, I just feel you are over reacting, but I guess I'll have to trust you." She flipped over his hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Sorry, I know I'm being selfish, but I'll sleep better knowing you are nearby. _Even if _they have a suspect in custody."

"You're wrong." Roy peeled his eyes off the road to look at her surprised. "You are only selfish when you want to protect people around you despite what they feel, but that desire to protect others is not selfishness. It's concern." She looked down at their hands. "Sure, it gets annoying but we do appreciate it. Me and the rest of the team."

He said nothing but a smile crept onto his face as he turned his attention back onto the road. "Open that will you." He pointed at the compartment in front of her. Inside was a pair of gloves and a small box.

"It's a present for you." She withdrew the small box and opened it. A pair a pearl earrings. Not particularly big but not small either.

"They were my birth mother's. I want you to have them." There was a sad smile on his face as Riza protested.

"Just take them. It's not as if _I'll_ ever wear them." There was a smirk in his voice.

Riza thank him as she replaced the simple purple ones in her ears with the ones she had just been given.


	12. Chapter 12

**I got this up sooner than I expected, I was in the zone tonight. Also I forgot to mention this in the last chapter but the whole bird name surname thing **_**is **_**a coincidence.**

**I personally quite like this chapter.**

**Thank you all reviewers new and old. Enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: FMA doesn't belong to me**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

Roy sat at his desk the next day tapping his finger irritably waiting for Garand to arrive. Mustang had purposely arrived early this morning to talk to his boss. He wanted to see the Slasher for himself, to see the man who had eluded the military, to see the man who slaughtered so many women.

When the man finally arrived, he was flustered and carried a stack of papers in his hand. Mustang walked straight up to him and Garand sighed as Roy glared at him.

"I assume you want to know the details on the suspect." He nodded intently.

"He's in cell 7, you can see him in your break." With that he wandered into his office and dumped the large stack of papers on Hawkeye's desk before collapsing in his chair. He was tired and stress was getting to him. Hawkeye muttered a good morning to him in a lower voice than usual. He noticed she was finally putting effort into her agreement, but not enough.

Lunch finally came, Mustang mentally cheered in his head. He hurried down to the holding centre as soon as Hawkeye had denied his lunch offer. She was pulling overtime. **Again.** The guards brought the former General to Cell 7, as Mustang clenched his fists in anticipation. When he got there he saw someone he didn't expect to see.

"Sergeant Jones?" Mustang exclaimed, shocked at seeing the over helpful sergeant stripped of his uniform and behind bars.

The man dressed in light grey uniform rushed towards the Mustang, grabbing the two of the jail bars that confined him. "General Mustang!" He had yet again forgot about Mustang's demotion, not that Roy really cared. The tears were nearly spilling from his eyes. "You don't know how glad I am to see you!" He was pushed his face in between the narrow bars.

"Do you mind explaining why you're in here Sergeant, as the Slasher?" His voice darkened slightly towards the end.

"I'm not the Slasher! They've got the wrong person!" The man was in hysteric's even the guards turned away cringing. "You've got to believe me General!" He tried to grab Mustang's collar but the guards pulled him away in time. He stared at the General dejectedly.

Mustang crossed his arms and watched him. "I'll give you a chance to explain Sergeant, _then _I'll decide if I want to help you. Don't leave anything out."

The sergeant repeated his thank you hurriedly and then quickly explained why he was in a jail cell.

"The higher up's claim that I knew the victims! They said that they had evidence that I stalked them! Sure I lived in the same apartment block as one of the victims in Central and I lived on the same street as one of the military victims, but that's just a coincidence! Also they noticed that the murders stopped in Central when I was transferred to the East. That's got to be a coincidence! Right General?" He was pleading the General with his eyes.

"Anything else?" He was thinking and watching the young man's body language.

"That's not all, they found out I took some case files away."

Roy quickly looked at him. "You mean those ones you gave to me."

He nodded tears dripping down his face. "They thought I was trying to destroy evidence!"

"Did you notify them that you had given _me_ the case files?" Roy leaned closer to him.

"Yes! But they don't listen they even accused me of stealing an important file from Garand!" Roy looked at him deep in thought. "Please, General. Testify at my trial. Tell them about the files. Hell even a description of my character could help. Anything. My lawyer said that it looks like the death penalty! I can't die! Not yet! And not because of something I didn't do! Please." He had clasped his hands together shaking his hands at him.

"One last question Why come to me for help?"." The sergeant looked straight into Mustang's eye then directed him to come closer.

"I don't trust the higher ups and everyone knows what you did when the higher ups wrongly convicted Maria Ross. You're a man who values the truth and justice highly. That's why I can trust you."

There was a long pause before he answered. "Alright then." Mustang nodded at him. "I'll be at the trial, and don't worry Sergeant, I'll prove you innocent." Mustang could see the sergeant was innocent, he didn't have the eyes of insanity and he doubted he could wield a sword expertly. No this man was being framed, and he would get to the bottom of the Slasher case before the trial. He swore it. He would find the _real_ monster.

(-)

A week flew by. Nothing eventful occurred, Mustang was slowly gathering case details in secret, the murders had stopped, the arguing had stopped, and even the abuse had stopped, but these peaceful times wouldn't last.

Garand sat alone at the bar. He had been drinking whiskey shots for the past hour non-stop. His head throbbed from the alcohol and the lights were slurring to together. He removed his glasses and rubbed his face to regain control.

"What hell did you crawl through to get you like this?" An older woman, the bartender, muttered to his lowly. Her voice low and raspy and cigar smoke flocked around her.

"Work."

"What about work? Lots of guys crawl in here whining about work." More smoke blew in his face and disorientated him further. He stumbled off the stool and headed towards the door.

"Don't think you're driving home, considering how much you drank." Garand muttered annoyed and headed back to the bar stool.

"Do you have someone to call to pick you up?" The woman pushed a corded phone towards Garand.

"Lieutenant." He spoke bitterly as he jabbed the buttons. It took him several times to get the number right and a longer time to get a reply. The phone continued to ring steadily as Garand's head pounded.

When the tone went silent he slammed the phone back onto its receiver. "Damn Lieutenant not picking up her bloody phone!"

"What's your Lieutenant called?" The older woman blew out a puff of smoke again.

"Hawk…something or other." With that the older woman pulled the phone towards her and typed.

(-)

Hawkeye was changing into a skirt and shirt when Roy came up behind her and wrapped a pair of arms around her. She jumped slightly at first but then relaxed. "What's with this all of a sudden?" She chuckled slightly as he rubbed his face into her shoulder.

"I'm just glad that I don't have to go to that cold bed all alone anymore."

"It's too early for bed." A smirk appeared on his face.

"Oh, Is that what you think?" Without warning he lifted her and placed her on the bed. He then climbed onto her quickly, kissing her lips.

The phone ringing interrupted them.

Both of them jumped slightly and looked at the phone in annoyance. Eventually Roy picked up the phone and answered. When the person on the other end replied, Roy shifted his position so he was sitting up straight.

"Madame, it's a pleasure to hear from you, but what is the reason for this call."

"_Hawkeye's over at your place right?"_

"Yes." Roy was slightly confused.

"_Well can I talk to her." _

Roy pushed the phone towards her. "It's for you."

"Hello?"

"_Riza, you need to come down to my bar and take some guy home."_

"Who?"

"_Some guy skinny white guy with blonde hair and glasses, he keeps calling out your name and a bunch of swear words," _Riza cringed slightly._ "He got totally wasted, so can you give him a lift?"_

Riza sighed annoyed. She really didn't want to leave Roy's apartment to pick up her abusive boss, but she _had_ to. She agreed with Chris and then put down the phone, Roy's eyes watching her carefully.

She stood to pull a coat on whilst explaining. "Garand got drunk at Madame Christmas's bar. _He_ keeps asking for me to come pick him up." Her sighing continued.

Riza pulled a confused look when Roy started putting on a coat as well. He could see her questioning glance.

"I'll drive, you'll need help carrying him home too and I don't want you in the streets at night alone." Riza felt no need to argue with him and just accepted his help willingly. Deep down she was glad he was going with her.

(-)

The bar was filled with punters and the sound of rambunctious laughter. They found Garand hunched over a table in the corner, passed out. Roy shifted his arm so it was over his shoulder and lifted him. Riza did the same with the other arm and slowly lifted him out of the bar. Roy nodded at Madame Christmas as he left. They dragged him over to his car and retrieved his car keys from his pocket. Roy strapped him into the back seat while Riza got in the front and started the engine.

"Where to sir?" Roy asked, tapping Garand's face to make him stay conscious.

"Holder apartment complex, floor 5, room 14." He slowly breathed out as he began sobering up, Roy looked at Riza and she nodded. "I'll see you there." He then shut the car door and climbed into his own car and followed Garand's car.

The call was filled with silence as Riza drove and she was grateful. That is, she _was_ grateful up until he started speaking.

"You don't…look…manly enough." Garand kept huffing and muttering. He was trying to get out of the seat but the belt held him securely in place.

"I know, I know _sir_, I'm working on it." She assumed that he would be too drunk to shout at her. Garand mumbled some more then stopped wriggling.

The task of getting up several floors was harder than Roy and Riza expected. So by the time they entered Garand's apartment they were relieved to dump him on his bed and rest. Both were still panting slightly as Riza took off Garand's shoes and pushed him under the covers. Roy on the other hand took his time looking around the small apartment. There was very little. A sofa, a chair, a bed. Not a single personal item in the living room, but in his room there was a single framed photograph on the wall.

A younger handsomer Garand stood with his arms around a young blonde girl, who looked a few years younger than him. He had a content dignified smile on his face whereas she had a bright cheesy grin slapped across her face.

Garand sat up when he noticed Roy scrutinising the photograph.

"Who's this?" He spoke openly trying his best not to push him.

"A friend." He spoke bluntly.

"A friend?"

"Yeah."

"Are you close?" Roy could see him staring.

"We _Were_." There was a brief silence between the two.

"What was her name?"

"Merylin. Merylin Harding." Garand looked at his hands while wobbling slightly. His head was still spinning.

"That's a nice name." Roy smiled slightly, maybe Garand wasn't just the hard-assed commander he had worked for the past few months. He then noticed the diamond ring on her hand.

Riza entered the room quietly and placed a glass of water on bed side table. Garand looked at her annoyed. He put his arm on the table and dramatically wiped the glass onto the floor, trying to make it look as though his drunken state had caused it.

"I'll get brush and pan," Roy muttered. "and a cloth." He noted the water staining the wooden floorboards.

As soon as he was out of sight, Garand grabbed Hawkeye's head and smashed it hard into the table. He came close to her ear and whispered quietly so Roy wouldn't overhear. He knew that he would be a while as his kitchen was a mess.

"Even though I am plastered, I can still see the way you are dressed. You call this dressing like a man." He grabbed her earlobe with the pearl earring embedded in it. "No man would wear these. Take them off and never wear them again. That's an order."

"But sir-" He slapped her this time.

"It's not up for discussion. It's an _order._ Aren't you a military dog? And isn't it a dog's duty to _follow orders._" He pointed at her, the intoxication was wearing off quickly. Annoyed and feeling violated Riza reluctantly removed the earrings and placed them into her pocket before Roy came back in. He swept up the glass and took it to the bin. When he came back he noted Riza being very quiet.

"Well Sir, we've got to go home. We'll see you tomorrow." He tugged lightly on Riza's elbow pulling her out of her trance. Garand grunted in acknowledgement and rolled over in his covers. Roy locked the door with the keys he had take from Garand then posted them back through the letter box, before taking Riza's hand and walking back to his car. He noticed a difference.

"What happened too your earrings?" His face was slightly confused and curious.

Riza froze up lightly at how quickly he had noticed but tried hard to cover things up. "They're back at your apartment. I'm saving them for a special occasion."

And yet again he accepted her explanation without argument. He knew she was lying, but he also knew she would have a good reason for lying to him. And one day she would tell him everything.

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><p><strong>So I'd like to know your thoughts on this chapter and also your predictions for what will happen next. I'm curious to see if my ending is predictable.<strong>

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Yes this chapter is extremely short and nothing extremely interesting happens, but I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow or the day after. Thank you to everyone who reviewed last time, particularly Shanator you have an interesting theory going on.**

**Chapter 13**

Roy stared at the postcard on his desk in disbelief. The others had gathered around his desk. On the front was a picture of the Elrics and Winry. In it you could see that Alphonse had bulked up and Edward waved his right arm in front of the camera intentionally showing off the flesh.

"What's with the look chief?" Havoc looked at his previous boss and then back at the photograph.

"Read what it says."

"_Dear __Colonel__General__ Wait it's major now right :P. Anyway we're just writing to inform you that me and Winry are getting married" _Havoc paused his eyes widened as well as the others.

"That's pretty bold of him. Never knew the kid had it in him." Breda muttered.

"There's still more." Hawkeye pulled the postcard out of Havoc's hands and read it herself. "_The wedding's in June. So make sure to clear you schedule we won't be happy if you blow us off for some boring military event. Oh, and bring Hawkeye and the guys we haven't seen them in a while. Also Al and Winry keep pestering me to get a photo of you guys, so send us a good one. Sincerely Ed."_

"So that little brat's getting married." A chuckle escaped his lips. "But I doubt his wedding will be anywhere near as good as mine."

"What makes you think that Chief?" Havoc had an equally smug look on his face.

"Because my bride is better looking." His arm snaked around Riza's waist and he pulled her closer. "Isn't that right Riza?"

"Whoever said I would marry you?" Her voice was jokey and she placed a hand on Roy's shoulder to balance herself.

"Would you like to?" He pulled her head down to his level so that he could kiss her. The men sat down at their desks, trying to give the two some privacy.

The door swung open and a haggard looking Garand stomped his way into the office after slamming the door behind him. He stomped towards Hawkeye and barked at her.

"Get in my office now. I need today's meeting schedule on my desk _now_!" He stormed into his office and sat in his chair in a huff.

"Who peed in his cornflakes?" Breda whispered once the door was shut firmly.

(-)

Hawkeye had expected him to lash out at her or cut her arm or something. Instead he just shouted for the meeting times and tried to straighten his uniform. She wondered what could have happened to piss him off.

But those thoughts quickly evaporated and they all left for the Eastern HQ's management meeting. Later on in the day there would be a leaders meeting to discuss how the country was going to be run, since the Fuhrer was still ill and after normal working hours there was a meeting on the Slasher case apparently important evidence had gone missing and they needed to make a decision on what to do with the suspect. Secretly she was glad she only had to sit through one meeting. All those who weren't in meetings just had to do odd jobs around headquarters for the day, all paperwork had been put on hold.

She took her place beside Garand after distributing coffee to everyone at the meeting. Furey began to explain why the technical division needed a larger budget but was interrupted, by Riza standing up in a hurry. Her chair scrapped the ground deeply.

Garand had poured his scalding coffee onto her lap, staining the blue uniform pants a dark brown and burning the skin underneath. Riza bit down on her lip hard to stop herself screaming He muttered his apologies and told Furey to continue.

"But sir she need medical attention." Furey protested as Roy rushed over dabbing at the stain with tissue.

"I'll take her to the medical room." Roy put an arm around her helping her to walk. She hobbled slowly.

"She is a trained officer, I'm sure that she can make it alone."

"But-"

"Don't make me make it an order." Roy pulled a defeated order. "Sit down Mustang, you need to start prioritising your work." His eyes were closed and his arms crossed, an annoyed look was on his face.

Riza gave a reassuring smile to Roy, then waddled towards the infirmary trying her best not to let the fabric rub against the fresh burns.

(-)

The doctor quickly bandaged up the wounds but in the end could not provide her with suitable clothing in exchange for the soiled military pants. She had no spares and the girls she spoke with weren't willing to lend her any pants. So she found herself wandering the corridors in the dirtied pants looking for someone who would be willing to lend her clothing. She never felt so humiliated in her life, but at the same time she felt angry. Angry that no one would help her, angry that Garand targeted her.

Her angry thoughts lead her to accidentally bump into Roy.

"Hey, I've been looking for you." He looked down and noticed the large stain still on her pants. "Still not found some clothes I see."

She nodded annoyed. "No one's willing to lend." A hand curled around Roy's chin and a grin appeared on his face.

"I've got just the thing." He grabbed her hand and rushed back into the office.

Riza stood there completely blank as Roy rummaged through the bottom drawer of his desk. He held the item behind his back as he crept towards Riza.

"Ta-da," He waved the skirt around. "You can wear my tiny miniskirt prototype and test it out." Riza face palmed.

"No. I'm _not_ wearing that."

"Whyyy not?" Roy whined at her like a little child.

Riza became flustered. "It's too short."

"But you've got nothing else to wear other than those dirty pants and they don't give off a good impression." She looked down at herself embarrassed.

"Fine then." She muttered as she snatched the skirt off him and put it on. When she had finished changing she placed the pants in a bag and turned to Roy who was facing the door.

"You look amazing." He muttered as he took her hand in his. A grin was evident on his face

"Thanks."

"Let's head to reception and see if we can find something to do."

Riza kept tugging the skirt lower and lower as she walked through the corridors feeling exposed. She got stares as she went and the whispering was loud.

"Hey isn't that Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"Who knew thought she would wear a miniskirt." 

"She looks so hot!"

"Check out those legs guys!"

"I wanna take a shot at her!"

Mustang turned and shot them an intimidating glare and pulled Riza closer. The whispering quietened but didn't stop. Roy didn't have time to deal with them, he needed to think about what he had seen earlier. He knew Garand had purposely spilled that coffee. The two were _not_ friends, Riza had lied, and he had to work out why.

**Next chapter will be up ASAP**


	14. Chapter 14

**OK so i was very shocked to see people review the terrible last chapter, so thanks guys ^^.**

**I'll just leave a warning for this chapter, there is more violence than usual. I personally liked how this came out but I think it could have been longer. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa**

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><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

Garand hurried back to his office, his mind was still filled with the comments from the last meeting.

"_Next on topic, we need to discuss the future of Major Mustang."_

"_He's been very diligent lately."_

"_Indeed, I hear he often works overtime."_

"_I discovered that he still manages projects over in Ishval, even though he has other priorities."_

"_I also heard he sends down supplies paid for from his own account."_

"_Yes, he seems to have improved. Maybe he is worthy of being a Brigadier General."_

"_But what about his relationship with Lieutenant Hawkeye?"_

"_I heard he's just using her."_

"_Yeah, that relationship is hardly serious. He'll dump her once he finds the next busty blonde."_

"_Let's take it to a vote then shall we? All in favour of reinstating State Alchemist Major Roy Mustang." The majority of the room raised their hands. "All oppose." A few people raised their hands including Garand._

"_Then it's settled, we'll reinstate him once the paperwork has been filed. Garand and Mustang will run Eastern HQ in a partnership."_

The words still echoed in Garand's head as he walked faster. He couldn't work with Mustang. If he got reinstated then his threats that he held over Hawkeye would dissolve. He would have nothing on her, and she would stay in the military poisoning the male officers. He needed to get Hawkeye and as many women to quit as possible. He had already made several quit due to offensive comments and discharging a few by catching them acting unprofessionally. However Hawkeye was harder to catch out, she acted professional in almost every situation and any slip ups that occurred weren't serious enough to be discharged for. Besides if she _was_ discharged unreasonably she would probably argue her case along with the other subordinates.

He greatly disliked them as well. Garand had heard that the Mustang unit was extremely loyal to their commanding officer. He had expected that they would follow him without hesitation from the first day. But he began to see that they only answered to Mustang. Heck they obeyed Hawkeye more than they listened to him. He always saw them as idiots for not seeing that Hawkeye acted out of place, she was not an equal. She was low pathetic servant. Or she should be. By being in the military she had become a more important member of society. She could eventually climb ranks and end up commanding a whole squad of soldiers. Each one's lives depended on her decisions. However she would get them killed because she was a woman.

These deep thoughts were still in Garand's head as he entered his private office. None of the men were in the main one so he assumed that they were still running errands around HQ or could have even gone home. When he entered his office Hawkeye was there waiting for him with a small stack of paperwork. She saluted.

"General Hakuro asked me to drop these off sir, he needs them signed by tomorrow, so he can file them in Central ASAP." Garand stared at her for a second. He glanced at the paperwork on his desk but something else caught his eye. A photo frame that sat on Hawkeye's desk. He picked it up in a hurry and stared at it. She automatically moved closer to him as he did, indicating its importance.

"Why do you stay in the military?" His voice was quiet but filled with venom, his eyes still staring intently at the photo. "Is it them!" He shoved the photo in her face. It was of the whole of Mustang's unit with Hughes and Armstrong also included. His hand shook as he waved the picture, his eyes were bloodshot and cold.

"Because there's someone I have to protect." There was fire burning in her eyes.

That set him off.

The photo frame was hurled against the wall instantly shattering. A startled Hawkeye was punched in the face and then again in the stomach. The pain wracked through her body. Garand then grabbed her head and slapped her.

"You protect someone? Don't make me laugh. Women can't protect anything. The time you spent in Ishval, you call _that_ protecting someone!" He smashed her head against the wall again.

Riza noticed the violence had escalated, he was completely insane at this moment. She had to fight for her life. After all she had been ordered not to die. As he hands snaked around her neck, her hand reached for her firearm in her back holster.

But she was too slow. Garand had drawn his sword and stabbed it directly through her hand then removed it quickly. The blood splattered the walls and the floor. He pulled off the holster and threw it in the corner like he was toying with her.

"See you can't even protect yourself." He punched her again knocking her into the ground.

She scrabbled to reach the holster. Hawkeye was fast enough to wrap her hand, despite the horrible bleeding, around the handle. She was about to turned around and shoot, but Garand stomped on her hand. She screamed as he increased the pressure on his hand.

"Let go." She didn't move, her eyes were still filled with determination.

He pushed down harder. "I said _let go._" His voice was low and filled with venom.

"No."

He bent low and began prying the fingers from the gun one by one with force. He grabbed the index first and pulled it away from the handle and further back then it should go. It broke with a loud crack. Hawkeye cried out in pain and Garand proceeded to do the same to the middle. When he was left with the last two fingers he merely ripped the gun from her hand as her grip had significantly weakened. He threw the gun far away.

Garand crouched low and leaned his knee into the small of Riza's back to stop her from getting up. "Being a woman makes you weak. I thought you had decided to become male officer." He dug the knee deeper causing a scream of pain to escape from her mouth, despite how hard she tried to muffle it. She flailed her arms and legs as far as they could go to land a blow, but her limbs were too short. "I have never seen a male officer wear a skirt, wear earrings, have breasts or," He undid the clip that held up her hair, he then dug his fingers into her hair and pulled. "Have hair this long."

"Let me help you with that." He bunched up her hair so it was close together. "Don't move." Using his sword he cut through her long hair. The ordeal was harder than he expect and had to try several time for a small lock to be cut. Each time Riza felt her dignity fading away. The one part of her that she had been able to chose what she did with, was being taken away by force. Part of her freedom was being taken. She fought hard but a single tear began to fall and soak the carpet. She could barely feel a thing in her body, the pain in her hand was numb, the pain from her face was numb, her ribs were numb.

Garand smashed her head against the floor one last time before standing and re-sheathing his sword. "Look at you, even after all I've said you still act exactly like a typical woman." He spat on her and kicked her in her ribs. "Does it hurt?"

She remained silent.

"I bet it does. I'll stop if you beg." He kicked her quickly in the rib. Trying to get a response from her.

"Never." She said momentarily regaining herself.

But that pissed him off more. His boot came harshly down on her cheek, crushing it. He twisted his foot and pushed harder as if he was trying to kill an ant.

By chance he looked up at the clock and slowly removed his foot. "Don't even think about telling anyone or leaving." He began to leave the room. "I'll be back after my meeting. We'll finish this later." With that he shut the door to the office and locked it before he left.

Riza lay on the floor shaking lightly, her mind was blank. She couldn't conjure up the will to stand. Instead she crawled towards the gun and pointed it directly at the door in case he came back, then stopped moving and just shook, tears not falling but the sounds of sobbing were obvious.

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><p><strong>Kay guys who thought Garand was going to rape Hawkeye? –raises hand guiltily- I was going to make it happen first, but then I worked out Garand's character and if he <em>did<em> rape Hawkeye it would be extremely out of character.**

**Anyway I hoped you enjoyed this. Hearing your thoughts and predictions would be nice.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Weekend updates are going to become a regular thing until my life gets back to normal.**

**Thank you for all the reviews, I'm guessing by the amount a lot of people enjoy the previous chapter. I hope you enjoy this one **

**Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Arakawa**

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><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

Roy wandered into the office after running an errand with General Hakuro's secretary. He agreed to meet Riza in there so that they could head home together, but when he entered the office there wasn't a person in sight. He wandered over to his desk to see if she had left a note but found nothing. Then he noticed Garand's office door was shut. Maybe she was in his office? Then his mind wandered, what was she _doing_ in his office? He knocked lightly and waited for a reply, when he got none he opened the door anyway. He found it was locked. Suspicious, Roy stuck his ear against the door to listen to what was happening inside. There was silence.

He grinned calculatingly; this was the perfect opportunity to get dirt on Garand. Roy knew he would be stuck in a meeting for a while because he had already passed him in the corridor. So he clapped his hands and touched the lock activating his alchemy. The lock mechanism easily failed and Roy push open the door. However what he found caused his eyes to widen.

Riza lay on the floor twitching slightly. Her right hand was bleeding deeply and bits of her hair were scattered all over the floor. The wall had a small blood splatter and chalk from the wall had been transferred onto her cheek. She had a gun pointed at the door. At him.

"Riza, Riza!" He rushed towards her and pulled her into his lap. She didn't open her eyes, she forcefully kept them shut and waved the gun. As a threat.

"Stay away!" She was pushing back. "I'll shoot!"

"Riza! It's me! Roy!" Her eyes slowly opened to look at him but a small tear escaped in the progress.

"What happened?" She just shook her head slightly and pushed her head deeper against his coat. Her hair was significantly shorter, it fell just above the shoulder.

"Garand did this didn't he?" Again he got no reply she just stared at the buttons on his military jacket not saying a word, her expression was completely unreadable.

"Answer me!" He spoke with more aggression but she still stayed quiet. He put a hand over the gun. "Let go. It's okay, I won't hurt you." Her grip slackened and he pulled the gun away from her and put it in his pocket.

"Come on we need to get you to a doctor." He pulled her so that she sat up. "Can you stand?" She nodded but he still helped he stand. She winced as she stood, and clutched her rib. Roy took her arm and draped it around her shoulders and guided her.

"We'll talk about this later, and you _will_ tell me Riza." She nodded begrudgingly as they hobbled their way to the infirmary.

"Not here." She muttered.

"Not here?"

"Not here." She shook lightly and Roy nodded in understanding, she was scared _he_ would come back for her and guided her towards the car park.

"You can wait in my car while I go and get a doctor."

(-)

Inevitably Roy ran into Dr Knox for which he was grateful for. He would treat patients with no questions asked. Knox agreed and watched a flustered Mustang hurriedly show him to his car. It wasn't hard to work out what had got him so worried.

They found Hawkeye with her knees huddled up in the back seat. She was still shaking her eyes wide. Knox looked at her concerned and began getting his kit. He started by treating the sword wound in her hand.

"8 cm's wide." He muttered as he bandaged the wound. Roy leaned against car, arms crossed. Then Knox taped up the two broken fingers.

Knox treated her wounds quickly and noted her and Mustang's silence. He figured that something big had happened, but it wasn't his place to speak. He finally rose from his knees and relit his cigarette.

"I recommend a few days bed rest, give those ribs a few days to heal. Avoid strenuous exercise." He turned to leave and nodded at the thanks he got.

(-)

When Riza woke she found herself on her side of Roy Mustang's bed. She must of fallen asleep in the car. She glanced around the room and found Roy in an armchair facing her.

He stood and came closer to her. "Are you hungry?" She shook her head and he sat down on the bed beside her.

"I know you probably don't want to do this, but you _need_ to tell me what happened." She was about to protest but he cut her off. "Please, it doesn't matter what he threatened you with or why you didn't say anything. I need to know what he's done to you, so I can help you."

Riza sat in silence looking down at her hands and for the first time noted how short her hair was. She fingered the few strands near her neck. Roy sighed loudly beside her, he didn't want to resort to this but he had to.

"Five."

"What?"

"I was five when my parents were… murdered. We were in Xing on a business trip and," He paused and sucked a sharp breath in. "Some burglars broke into our hotel room… and my mother hid me under the bed and told me not to come out until she said so. So I hid but peeked out of a hole to see what was happening." He stopped again his whole being shook, Riza saw this and tightly wrapped a arm around him. His eyes stared forward without blinking. "My parents were shot in cold blood… while they were trying to protect me." A tear slid down his face.

"I've never told anyone that." He wiped the tear away with his sleeve and Riza patted his back. "Even in their dying moments my parents were still able to teach me. They showed me that a person should protect the people they love with everything they have." He held her hand. "That is why you need to tell me everything."

Riza bit her lip in indecision, it was too hard to tell him everything.

He continued talking not expecting her to talk. "I know how hard it is to tell someone when you're getting abused. After all I was once a victim as well." His head was tilted upwards as Riza quickly looked at him. She had never heard about this.

"After my parents died the Xingese authorities were not aware of my relatives in Amestris so just sent me off an orphanage. I was adopted there by a family that already had a large number of adopted kids. Things started out alright I guess. Well alright isn't the best word to use, but the life I had was what I expected. Chores, forced labour, typical stuff, but then my foster parents changed. They hit us, beat us, kicked us and ridiculed us. The girls were raped and put into the prostitution industry. Adoption authorities often visited but when they came round, we had to act happy and healthy. It killed me not to say anything, but they warned us. Tell anyone anything and will be killed right away." He wiped his face with his hand.

"Eventually I started getting stronger and bigger, so I fought back. That's how I got this." He removed part of his shirt to reveal the large burn on his shoulder. "They threw an iron at me and threw me out on the streets. But thanks to that I was able to get a job and get back to Amestris. I was about 10 when Chris found me." He wrapped an arm around Riza and pulled her closer.

"The point is that, if I hadn't fought back, they would have continued to beat me until I eventually died. Riza if you don't tell me everything, things will just carry on and he will not be punished." Riza bit her lip tightly as one more tear fell from her face.

"Okay." She explained to him when the abuse first started, how he threatened to demote Mustang, the deal she made with him and how it had escalated to the events today. She spoke calmly about how she threatened his life and explained the scars on her arms to him. Roy listened in silence and understanding, but at the same time he was shocked at how much she had gone through alone. When she had finally finished speaking, he hugged her tightly and kissed her head.

"You've been through so much, thank you for telling me." She nodded against him and deepened the embrace.

"Don't worry about what'll happen to me, I'll deal with this. I'll deal with that Monster." He swore. Deep in the back of his mind he always knew it was Garand, he just never acted on his instincts.

"Let me help." Roy looked at her confused. "I _want_ to help. I should have that right, shouldn't I?" He nodded briefly agreeing with her. Being overprotective of her was going to help her recover, she still wanted her independence and Roy was still willing to give her some.

They stayed like that for a while until eventually Riza broke the silence.

"Roy, can you do me a favour?" He nodded.

"Can you cut my hair…back to the way it was when I was younger? You used to cut my hair back then as well." Roy nodded and smiled at her. She returned the smile and as she was lead into the bathroom she felt lighter. She felt change coming.

Riza sat in the middle of the bath as Roy slowly slit the few locks away. His fingers brushing her neck slightly.

"Despite everything's that happened, are you okay?" Roy spoke quietly as he worked.

"Yeah, I'm okay now." She sighed lightly and relaxed against his hand. Roy finished quickly and then turned Riza towards the mirror.

"How's that?"

"It'll do. Thank you." He moved to hug her shoulders from behind.

"You look nice like this and don't worry _we'll_ deal with that bastard. I promise you."


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi! It seems that most people enjoyed the last chapter and I'd like to say a big thank you to ****PrinceVeggie ****no I'm not a professional author, I'm just a high school kid who sucked at English. Seriously I could get maths and chemistry but English was my worst subject.**

**Anyway I don't really have an opinion on this chapter so it would be nice to hear what you think.**

**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa**

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><p><strong>Chapter 16<strong>

Roy was still shaking in angry that he had been blind this long and that he had done nothing what so ever, he had done nothing to protect her. He wanted to make Garand pay. His hand shook terribly as Riza grasped it. She wanted to go into work today like she always did and pretend like nothing had happened. Roy only agreed when he decided he would change things himself. He wouldn't tell her, because she would stop him.

When they entered the office everyone was already present. Havoc and Breda bantered like usual but noticed the difference in both of their expressions and stopped. Riza clearly had a black eye and her hair was cut short. Garand stood at the window reading papers beside his old desk. Roy had planned to take Garand down politically and had already plotted his actions but seeing his nonchalant face made him forget about his plans and just acted out on impulse. He let go of Riza's hand and stalked towards him furious.

"Are you happy?"

"What are you tal-"

"Are you happy that you were able to diminish Hawkeye and get away with it? What gave you the right to assault her in that way? You're just a monster!" He grabbed Garand's collar with one hand. "What kind of sick bastard cuts someone in that way?" His voice had quietened but the same amount of venom was still evident.

"I'm her commanding officer, of course I have the ri-" Roy pulled back a shoved a heavy punch into his face. He clapped his hands together and tried to snap but was held back by Riza and the others trying to prevent him from using alchemy on him.

"Don't do this sir, he could demote you. You still have objectives to meet. Don't throw it all away like this!" Riza cried out trying to calm him. He fought against them trying to push them away. It was just like the time with Envy, where hatred and revenge consumed him.

"You can't take that path again!" The words hit him hard as he begun to realise the situation he had put them into. He stopped struggling and stood still.

Garand stood and wiped the blood away from his nose. "Anything else Mustang?" He spoke tauntingly as Roy bit his lip and stood firmly. "I don't understand why you all stand up for this whore." Roy rushed forward and gave him one more punch, knocking him to the ground, before Havoc got a grip on him again.

"You fool. I don't have time to waste on you. I'll deal with your punishment later, _I_ have a meeting to get to." He stood up and brushed some dirt off his shoulder and strode out of the office with his head held high.

The men loosened their grip on him and Roy apologized for unconvincing them, and walked into Garand's office and shut the door behind him so that Hawkeye didn't have to remember. He was disgusted to see that the blood was still splattered on the wall, but the hair had been cleaned up. In a hurry he grabbed the few things from Hawkeye's desk and left the room. He deposited them back on her original desk.

"I don't care what he says, you're working in this office with us, from now on." His voice was cold and calculative.

Riza sat at the desk she had missed and reran the events of the morning of her head.

"_You need to report him. File a complaint in the military relations sector. That could at least get you transferred away from that Bastard."_

She had protested with him, but deep down she knew that he was right. She couldn't spend the rest of her career trying to defend herself from enemies and her superior. Despite Roy being the one who suggested the idea he had still gone ahead and assaulted Garand.

(-)

Later in the day, Roy had arranged a meeting with the head of Military Relations. The two walked side by side towards the building, Roy's expression was blank and Riza's face was directed straight ahead.

"RIIIIIIZZZZZAAAAAAA" A squeal echoed down the corridor as a figure ran towards the two. When Rebecca was close enough she jumped at Riza pulling her into a bone-breaking hug.

"Gosh it's been months since I've seen you. Did you miss me?" She rubbed her cheek against Riza's face. "I'm hurt, you didn't even come and pick me up from the train station with Havoc." She turned to Mustang and gave him a glare.

"Sorry." Riza pulled a slight smile but tried to cover her face with her hair.

"This is your fault Mustang. Always the greedy commander, stealing my best friend from me." She pointed accusingly at Mustang.

She expected a laugh or a smug response, but he seemed to ignore what she was saying and kept staring forward. Rebecca looked between the two. They both were extremely quiet and weren't looking at each other. Then she noticed the bruising around Riza's eye and all her hair was gone.

She worked it out. She grabbed Roy's collar and shoved him against the wall.

"You Bastard! What the hell have you being doing to Riza!" She shouted at him, his face was startled. "I thought you actually _cared_ about Riza, and now I find out you're abusing her." She tightened her grip on his collar.

Riza pulled at her arm and shook her head, trying to get her to loosen her grip on Mustang. "It's not Roy, please let go."

She let go and looked at Riza softly before turning to glare at Mustang again. "Who did this?"

Roy muttered. "Garand." Rebecca grabbed his collar.

"And you let him!" Riza pulled at her again.

"It's not his fault, I didn't tell him anything." She pulled Riza into another hug.

"Don't worry Riza. _I'll_ deal with that Bastard, since _he_," She turned to glare at Mustang. "Didn't." Rebecca stomped away down the corridor searching for Garand.

"Good friend you've got there." Roy lip twitched slightly into a smirk, something he hadn't done in a while.

"Yeah, I have the best."

(-)

"Take a seat, Lieutenant." The officer in charge of military relations, Lieutenant Colonel Leister, directed her to sit. Roy had left her to go through with the interview in private.

Riza muttered her thanks and sat whilst glancing around the office. The grey haired Colonel looked at the file on her desk.

"So, I pulled up your file." He began reading methodically. "Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye of Eastern Command, Served in the Ishval civil war as a sniper, and also played a role in the promised day. Has worked under Colonel Mustang, Fuhrer Bradley and Brigadier General Garand. No past complaints filed by you and high evaluations every term. What would you like to file a complaint about Lieutenant."

She took a deep breath. "My superior, Brigadier Gen-" She was cut off as a soldier hurriedly opened the door. She cursed loudly in her mind.

"Lieutenant Colonel, there's a major announcement at the Central training ground. "

Leister stood up. "What's this about?"

"We're not sure, but Brigadier General Garand ordered everyone to be present. "

"Okay, thank you Sergeant." He moved out from behind the desk. "We better get moving Lieutenant. My secretary will arrange another appointment for you."

(-)

The training grounds were filled with soldiers and all of them were discussing hurriedly. Combined together it sounded like a swarm of buzzing bees. Riza pushed her way through the crowds looking for her unit.

She found Mustang and the gang in the far corner also discussing the announcement.

"Hey maybe Garand's announcing his retirement." Havoc suggested hopefully.

Breda slapped his head. "You idiot. He's only 36."

"Then maybe he's giving us promotions." Furey also chirped out hopefully.

Falman patted his head. "Like _that_ guy would give us promotions."

"It's probably some new rule." Rebecca muttered rather annoyed. She didn't get the chance to confront Garand before the announcement.

"How did the meeting go?" Roy turned to Riza and the others followed anxiously waiting her response.

"We were interrupted." All of them sighed in unison.

Roy suddenly jumped as if he had remembered something important. "Oh, I have some good news to tell you i-"

He was interrupted by a passing officer who accidentally bumped into him and immediately after Garand took to the stage. The discussion began to die down as he did so. His face was blank and held no expression, he was also alone which was suspicious. Usually when announcements were made there would be other high ranking officers that had approved of the acts and laws as well, but the only people on stage was Garand and a few security officers.

"Settle down people. I have an important announcement to make." He took a deep breath and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Earlier this morning Act 589 was passed. In which," He paused. "The Amestrian State Military will only consist of male officers." There was complete silence as the information sunk in. "Therefore effective today, all female officers are to ordered to resign. That is all." He moved away from the stage with a smirk on his face, just before a riot broke out.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

A week had passed and Eastern Command was still absent of any female officers. It was an understatement to say that all kinds of officers were angry. All the ladies were out of a job and a lot of the men lost the women they had come to admire every day. However there were the few officers were glad to get rid of women.

That day a mob of soldiers went to burst down the door of Garand's office in protest, but were disappointed and extremely pissed off to find the Bastard had left for home. Their annoyance grew greater as he didn't turn up the next day. Or the day after. Or the day after that. He had practically abandoned his position after passing the Act.

As a result Roy Mustang's promotion was hurriedly set in motion. He became a Brigadier General once it became clear that Garand wasn't coming back. Phone calls remained unanswered and an empty apartment hinted a lot of things.

However despite being reinstated he did not have the authority of over turning the Act, the only way to do that would be to go to the Fuhrer directly and make a request, but this was nearly impossible as the Fuhrer was still on bed rest.

And to top it all off, Roy Mustang discovered that Act 589 was only in effect at Eastern Command and bigwigs from Central had approved Garand's decision because they believed it would improve productivity. Apparently Garand had provided statistical evidence to prove his point. He punched the door of the office before he entered.

"Asshole passes idiotic policies then leaves me to deal with the aftermath." He stumbled slowly into the office.

His loyal men saluted him.

"Congratulations Chief." Furey chirped. Roy muttered his thanks and proceeded towards his desk.

"Geez, this is the second time you've been a Brigadier General. We expected you to be a Major General by now." Havoc sat down and automatically started ranting. "The almighty Mustang gets a promotion and what do we get. Nothing. Not a promotion, no commendations, no screaming fans. We helped with the promised day too."

Mustang rolled his eyes at him. "I did try and get you guys a promotion, but it kept getting pushed back. I doubt you'll be getting it soon too since the Fuhrer's still incapacitated." He then glared at the large pile of paperwork that filled his old old desk.

"Sir? What are we doing about Garand's stuff in your office, the Affairs officer wants to know." Furey looked up to see an annoyed Mustang running his fingers through his hair.

"We're going to burn it." A grin had crept onto his face.

"Really?" Furey looked at him worried.

"No, we should though, he deserves it." He scribbled his signature onto the piece of paper. "We're going to pack it up and dump it in his apartment after work, Hawkeye will swing by to help." He looked slightly happier at the thought.

"Are you sure that's okay chief? Civilian's shouldn't really be dealing with military affairs." Havoc joked.

"She's a special guest, besides she's bored out of her mind at my apartment. She sneaks out all when I'm at work with her rifle and goes target practising in the wood, but she can't do that all the time and sitting at home _must_ be boring her. Yesterday I caught her trying to wash my miniskirt with toothpaste."

A grin crept on everyone's face. "_Your_ miniskirt? I didn't know you liked wearing skirts General." Breda was happy about the light jokey atmosphere that was back.

"Hey! I _made_ that skirt myself, the first prototype." A burst of laughter filled the room, the image of Roy Mustang sewing imprinted into their minds. Mustang sighed and ignored their laughter. He appeared annoyed but deep down he was happy. Glad that things were back to normal, or nearly back to normal. They just had to regain the last member of team Mustang.

(-)

Hawkeye walked into Headquarters feeling awkward and out-of-place. Where she was once greeted by a group of female receptionists, she was now greeted by young low ranking male officers, who had no idea what they should be doing. They blocked her as she tried to take the elevator then spent 10 minutes trying to explain that she had to leave.

She was extremely grateful when Havoc came to pick her up. He explained the situation to the three Privates of her situation. When they still couldn't grasp the situation, Havoc got pissed off.

He slammed his hand on the front desk. "Look, I've already explained to you that Miss Hawkeye is a guest. She has permission to walk around headquarters." An eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"And _we_ have explained that superiors_ from Central_ gave us orders not to let any women in Headquarters." The tallest private inevitably had the most guts.

Havoc gritted his teeth and shook his palm. "And _I_ _already_ explained to you, that they were talking about female _officers_. Hawkeye is a _guest_."

"But sir-" The other private tried to defend their peer.

"Is there a problem Havoc? I expected you back ages ago." Mustang appeared quickly and spoke formally but then turned his back to his subordinates to smirk at Hawkeye.

"Hi."

"Hey." Hawkeye muttered uneasily.

"Miss me?" The smirk was growing.

She spoke with a poker face for she knew how inflated his ego would be if she told the truth. "Of course not. I missed Havoc."

Havoc spat in shock. He stared at her eyes wide. His image mirrored Roy's.

She slapped Roy's arm playfully. "Geez, I was just kidding. Why so shocked?"

She was slightly startled when his expression hadn't changed. He had frozen. She looked around nervously and then placed a peck on his lips.

He almost instantly straightened up. A grin then appeared on his face.

"Hah! I knew you liked me more than Havoc!" He teased her like a little kid.

She sighed and just accepted the situation, although Roy constant smirking and joking was slowly wearing on her patience. It wasn't good to let officers see Mustang so casual and at ease they would see it as a weakness and take advantage of it, by slacking at their work.

Hawkeye was grateful when Havoc interrupted by clearing his throat loudly.

Roy straightened up and spoke formally and strict again. "Is there a problem, Privates?"

They looked at them, slightly scared. The tallest spoke. "General, This woman-"

"_This woman_ has a name." He spoke annoyed and made the smallest flinch.

"Um…right." The tallest quickly lost his confidence. "Miss Hawkeye wanted to go upstairs and-"

"Then why haven't you given her a visitor card yet." To be honest Roy appeared furious but Havoc and Hawkeye could see he was merely annoyed. However they found it amusing as he tortured the officers.

"That's because-"

"You were being rude. Give her a card now, that's an order. She's my _personal_ guest." They flashed a shocked look at Hawkeye, and she rolled her eyes. She could predict the dirty thoughts they had in their heads.

They fumbled around their desk quickly and handed Hawkeye the card.

Roy placed his hand on the small of Hawkeye's back. "Let us be going, Riza." He smirked slightly and held out his arm guiding her towards the elevator. "Havoc lets go." Havoc also hurried after them.

The three Privates' discussion was far from quiet. Being the only ones in the reception their conversations could clearly be heard. Especially by the three officers on their way towards the elevator.

"Who's that woman?"

"You heard what the General said. It's his _personal guest._"

"What like Mustang's mistress?"

"Could be."

"She could be a hooker though."

Their whispers got louder. "You think so?"

"Why else would they both be so nice to her?"

During their loud discussion they had failed to notice that Mustang had returned. He stood at their desk tapping his finger in annoyance at the things they were saying.

"If she's a hooker, does that mean their throwing a party or something?"

"Of course, Mustang got promoted recently. They obviously want to celebrate!"

"By bringing a hooker in! It's probably a stripper."

A loud throat clearing forced them to lift their heads up. "You are not getting paid to gossip about your superiors. So get back to work!"

He turned and began walking toward the elevator where Havoc and Riza were waiting for him.

"And if you must know. Hawkeye is my _girlfriend_ and if you insult her again you'll not only find yourself charred but you'll have a bullet in between your eyes and another through your happy helper down below."

Since that day the Privates never made eye contact with Roy Mustang ever again.

(-)

"Congratulations sir." Hawkeye said with a slight smile on her face. She stood at the book shelf clearing out the books which had belonged to Garand. She was briefly reminded of the first time Garand had run her pen down her arm, but she quickly shook the thought away.

Roy sat at Garand's old desk, Roy's new desk, sorting out Garand's personal possessions from the drawers into a box. Havoc and Breda were rearranging the furniture whilst Furey was dusting and Falman had the job of cleaning the windows.

Havoc and Breda sniggered. "Do you call him sir at home as well?"

"They're right Riza. You don't have to call me sir anymore."

"It's a habit," She paused. "Roy."

"You'll pick it up eventually _Riza_." He began moving the few items off Garand's desk and happened to glance at his pen pot. He recognised one of the fountain pens.

He pulled it out to get a better look. He had _definitely_ seen this pen before for he had been the one who bought it. Roy had been the one who bought it for Riza.

"Riza?" She turned to him.

"Yes?"

"Isn't this your pen?" He held it up.

"Yeah, it's the one you bought me 4 years ago." He smiled slightly at the fact she remembered the year.

"I wonder if it still works." He removed the lid and grabbed a piece of paper, while hurrying he failed to see the nib stained red with blood, but when he began writing with it he could clearly see the red that was passed onto the paper. He froze. Why was the pen writing in blood? Or the better question was why was the pen on Garand's desk?

"Riza, why does your pen write in blood?" She froze as did the other subordinates. They gathered around while Riza stood still. They all watched her waiting for an answer.

She sighed deeply and turned around. "It was what he used to slit my arms."

Roy punched the table hard making Riza flinch. "That Bastard."

Furey slowly walked towards Hawkeye. "It's okay Lieutenant Hawkeye, he's not coming back. We'll protect you."

"Yeah, you should have told us earlier we would have taken care of him for you." Havoc was also around patting her on the back.

"I'm sure you had your reasons, but if something similar happens again you have to tell us." Falman watched her with wise eyes.

She nodded slightly, her lips curled into a fond smile.

"That guy better not run into us on the street."

The 4 men continue to discuss what they would do to Garand if they found him, whilst Riza and Roy continued to tidy at their stations.

Roy spotted a file in the bottom on Garand's drawer beneath stack of old papers. There were more underneath it. He pulled it open and quickly scanned through the sheet.

"These are those missing files from the Slasher case." Again they all gathered around. Each picked another file up and flicked through.

"I believe these are the ones that Garand reported missing."

Roy put a hand under his chin. "Why would he report them missing, if he already was in possession of them?" He stared hard at the page open. It was a summary of all the similarities of the cases. One particular part caught his attention.

_8cm blade_

He quickly shifted through until he found the photograph of the wounds inflicted.

_8cm blade_

_Sword wound_

_Case files in his desk_

_Forbidding their unit to investigate the case_

It slowly clicked in his mind. The men watched the colour drain from his face.

"Riza give me your hand." She complied with him seeing the serious expression on his face.

He took her hand with the sword wound in it and quickly unwrapped the bandages, trying to avoid the broken fingers, until the cut became visible.

He fumbled through the box of Garand's things until he found a ruler. He then hurriedly measured the wound.

_8cm_

Flustered he grabbed the photo of the wound and compared the image to Hawkeye's hand.

_It was the same_

He loosened his grip.

He had reached his conclusion. "Garand is the Slasher."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay I guess everyone had already workede this out, but the truth finally comes out. This chapter is actually one of my favourites, easy to write and feels natural to me.<strong>

**I have a few announcements to make:**

**#Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter and this chapter.**

**#I've just started on a new piece of Royai with action kindof, which I'm really enthusiactic about but it'll be some time before I upload it. Just thought i'd let you know about upcoming pieces  
><strong>

**#Since everyone keeps asking if Olivier will be in it, I've decided to write a one-shot about what would happen if Garand and Olivier met. (It may take some time, life is a mess right now, there's no time at all)**

**#Finally, this story is coming closer and closer to the end, so savour the chapters.**

**And thanks for taking the time to read this **


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay guys a long chapter. Again I like this chapter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 18**

"That would explain a lot of things. Like how the case files that are missing are in his desk and why he forbade us to investigate this case. Also could explain what I saw in the Library." Falman broke the silence which had filled the room.

"What did you see?"

"Garand was going through the personal details archives but the librarian refused to give him them." He looked to the side thinking. "I remember her saying that he was looking for complaints and dishonourable behaviour." He paused slowly. "Now that I think about it, her name was Aria Sparrow. That's one of the Slasher victims."

"That's not all." Furey stepped forward. "When Garand was first transferred and Hawkeye was working on the Slasher report. I clearly remember Garand spilling ink on the report, but he blamed it on Hawkeye. He was probably trying to destroy evidence."

"Come to think of it, I remember overhearing Cathy in reception complaining about Garand." Havoc thought quickly. "Apparently he was being rude to most female officers and trying to encourage them to quit."

"That's right I remember the number of female officers resigning had increased significantly in the past 3 months." Mustang was thinking intensely of anything they may have over looked.

"It's highly possible that Garand is the Slasher serial killer. I remember watching him in a mock sword battle in the training grounds. You remember Sergeant Sogo, he always beat his opponents, but Garand completely thrashed him, and with ease!"

"I heard he studied sword fighting in the Nippon." Falman inserted his knowledge.

"The small country beyond Xing?" Furey questioned.

"Exactly." There was a brief silence while the information soaked in.

Mustang put his hands down on the table. "Okay, this is what we're going to do: Falman, contact Central headquarters and explain to them all the evidence and be thorough don't leave a single detail out, then make sure they send out a bulletin to every command station and check point. Breda get Sergeant Jones's trial postponed, tell the head prosecutor all the details that we've established. "

"Sir!" The two grabbed the few files and headed in a hurry toward the communications department.

"Havoc gather some subordinates and circulate his description, make sure that people knows exactly who we're looking for."

"Yes sir!" He too ran out to archives to retrieve a photograph.

"Furey come with us, we're going to Garand's apartment to see if we can find any more discriminative evidence or anything that will give us an idea where he could have gone."

"Yes sir!" Hawkeye and Furey saluted him in unison.

(-)

After a rather innocent threat to the landlady Furey, Mustang and Hawkeye finally got inside Garand's apartment. Furey's eyes were instantly drawn to the two glasses on the table. One was still full and didn't look like it had been drunk from, whereas the other had been drunk and only a small amount remained in the glass. The Sergeant quickly went over and smelt the liquid quickly.

"It's red wine."

Mustang put his hand on his chin and thought for a bit. "Garand seems to have had a guest, and probably someone he trusts since he offered them an expensive drink."

"Was he close to anyone?" Furey tried to further Mustang's thoughts.

"Maybe this girl?" Hawkeye had walked over to the single photograph hanging in the man's bedroom.

"They look close." She continued and Furey scurried towards her and Mustang followed slowly afterwards.

"Yeah, they used to be. She's called Merylin…..Something or other." Mustang muttered after seeing the photo.

"It seems to be the only personal photo in the house." Furey looked around. "But why in the bedroom."

"When you are in pain you always suffer the most when trying to sleep, because in the day you can keep you mind focused on work but at night the mind will automatically wander to the worst thoughts. Having a picture of loved ones to remind you of better times can provide some comfort." Roy remembered the nights after Ishval and after Hughes died, and he could remember how photographs of happier times helped him sleep.

"What happened to this woman, because," Furey had quickly flicked through several drawers. "there's not a trace of her anywhere."

"Maybe she died." Hawkeye said flatly as she continued staring at the photo. Despite the plain expression on Garand's face, you could still see happiness in his eyes. Something she had never seen.

"Possibly, but she could also be a key lead in our investigation. I'll get someone to pull up her file, Merylin Harding I think her name is."

They spent the rest of the afternoon searching for his house for a weapon or receipt or anything that would give an idea of his location. They were definitely working over time, but all responsibilities had been dropped and preventing another killing had become top priority. The sky had started to darken and house lights were being turned on. Mustang glanced quickly at the clock, 8:30. He stood up from where he had been kneeling.

"Let's head back to the command centre, there doesn't seem to be anything here." They nodded in agreement.

The car ride back was quiet, only the hum of Mustang's car could be heard. Hawkeye had taken her rightful seat beside Mustang whilst Furey sat in the back seat looking over the any evidence they had collected. They hurried briskly into the command building, most of the staff had gone home, expect for a few security officers. They weren't even sure if Havoc, Breda or Falman were still here.

"So we're going to look up this Merylin Harding girl?" Furey asked for clarification.

"She's the best lead we have." Mustang paused slightly. "Sorry to do this to you two, but we'll have to work overtime on this case and track his location. When it gets late we can take turns sleeping in the barracks."

"It's not a problem." Hawkeye still saluted despite no longer being in the military.

"I just want him caught." Furey said determined.

When they got back to their office they were slightly shocked to still find Havoc, Breda and Falman waiting for them. The six desks pushed together to form one large one and documents spread out all over, including maps.

"Why are you three still here?" Mustang asked surprised.

"We've got to help catch Garand." Breda crossed his arms and nodded in agreement with Havoc.

"But how did you know we were going to come back and not go home."

The three men smirked in unison. "Come on _General_, we know you by now."

Mustang's expression was blank at first but then joined in on the smirking.

(-)

The next few hours were filled with constant thinking and calculating. Furey had been assigned to call all numbers they found in Garand's personnel file and the one in his personal phone book, which had very few. Nearly all had been dead ends with unrelated people answering or no one answering at all. Falman and Havoc were looking through civilian records and funeral records in search of Merylin Harding. Breda was left looking through recent military articles that may relate. Hawkeye and Mustang were gathered around the main desk trying to figure out if there was a pattern to his killings to his killings, and if so where he would strike next.

The time was drawing near 5 am and everyone except Mustang had slept at least once. Havoc was currently coming back from his first rest and the team was urging Mustang to go to sleep. His jacket had long been discarded and his hair was messier than normal due to running his hands through it so many times. His eyes were drooping and his precious subordinates could tell how exhausted he was from the way he drank his coffee; slurping and shaking each time.

But his reply to the protests was merely. "I have no time for sleep, I have a job to be doing." And they backed down but watched him warily, prepared for when he collapses on the desk.

He glanced over the maps for the 100th time. Mustang stared for a long time at the map of Central. That was where he first started.

"Is there a chance he went back to where he started? Back to Central?" He looked at Breda who had all the military bulletins and articles.

"It's possible." He fumbled around his desk looking for the article he wanted. "There is this; where 4 female military officers went missing." He quickly skimmed the article. "This is from yesterday!"

Mustang hurried went to him. "Let me see." He read the article at lightning speed. Then looked up suddenly. "Havoc, call Central HQ and find out about this."

Havoc rushed towards the phone immediately explaining the situation to the officer answering. The team all gathered around to look at the article. They all turned in unison when they heard Havoc shout.

"WHAT! Why weren't we given this information sooner!" The person on the other end tried to explain calmly that they sent a telegram.

"A telegram don't make me laugh! When important _vital_ information is needed, a phone call is _always_ the first option." The person on the other end said that the higher ups believed that no one would be around to answer the call as the information had only been found late at night.

"That's no excuse!" Havoc finally noticed the scrutiny of the other team members. "Well thanks for the Intel anyway. Tell General Spitfire that our team is on our way to provide assistance." He put the phone down and turned to the others.

"Garand's location has been narrowed down. Apparently he's hiding out in the abandoned warehouse district."

"And what about the missing officers?" Mustang asked.

"They didn't know anything about that."

Mustang thought. "Okay, were going to move out. I'll give you guys one hour, go home and pack some things and meet me at the train station. We can shower, rest and prepare whilst on the train." The men saluted and left quickly.

He grabbed Riza's hand. "Are you coming with us?"

"I always said I would follow you to the depths of hell didn't." She smiled briefly.

"I would protest about you being a civilian now," He smirked slightly. "But I would rather you came with us."

"I want to come, sir."

"That's fine, but do me a favour and pack some clothes and stuff for me. I'll meet you all at the station, I have to call Major Miles first." She nodded in understanding and left quietly.

Mustang picked up the phone and dialled the Ishval dorms despite being early in the morning. Eventually the Major answered despite sounding groggily.

"Major Miles, I apologise for ringing so early. I'd just like to notify you that I'll be heading back to Ishval as soon as I've settled things here. It shouldn't take too long." He then put the phone down with a determined look.

(-)

The train was relatively empty since few people travelled at this time. The team had occupied the two shower rooms and bathrooms to freshen up after staying at work all night. Mustang was the first to make it back to the team's carriage. He sat down tiredly for the first time in hours and laid the large map of the abandoned warehouse district on the table.

When the others finally got back to their carriage they found a very tired Mustang drooling on the corner of the map, eyes closed. The lower ranking officers looked at each other.

"Should we wake him up?" Furey asked nearly reaching out to shake the man's shoulder, but Hawkeye grabbed his arm first.

"He _has_ been awake for over 24 hours, let him rest on this journey." Her face was kind as she draped a blanket over the General's shoulders and gently pulled the map out from underneath him. She then took the seat beside him.

"The General was planning to split our team so that all the abandoned warehouses were investigated." She pointed at the southern area. "Forces from Central will be around here." She looked up to notice that Havoc and Breda sat across from her weren't paying attention. Neither was Furey beside her or Falman also across from her. Breda kept pointing at the drool from the General's mouth.

"Damn, Our Colonel's a slob." Havoc muttered pointing at the slight wet patch below his mouth.

"He's a General."

"Yeah, but we'll always see him as _our Colonel."_ A brief smile was shared between the five of them.

Havoc's face grew serious. "Whatever happens today we need to make sure the General lives and Garand gets brought to justice."

"Aren't you over reacting? General's aren't even allowed on the front line, he'll be commanding with General Spitfire and Garand won't reach him." Furey said.

Breda spoke this time. "Do you honestly believe that the General would just sit back and watch?"

"No..." The lad muttered slowly.

"Garand's specialty is swords and we all remember what happened to the General when he fought King Bradley." Breda looked at each one in the eye.

"The General is at a disadvantage in close range." Hawkeye stated as a matter of fact.

"That's why we need to protect him and make sure he gets out of it." As soon as Breda said those words they simultaneously turned to Hawkeye.

They all knew she would do everything in her power to make sure Mustang made it out alive. Even if she didn't.

Riza agreed to be in Mustang's unit, Havoc and Breda were a unit as were Furey and Falman. They agreed to start at the Northern, Western and Eastern entrances and investigate as many warehouses as possible and eventually meeting in the centre with Central forces.

(-)

Mustang briefly saluted General Spitfire before sneaking away from the Central forces to investigate the northern warehouses with Riza. They went through each warehouse one by one, kicking down the front door, guns at the ready. The first five were empty, but in the sixth there were a bunch of unrelated civilians who had taken over the warehouse as their home. After questioning them quickly Mustang drew the conclusion that they were all just a bunch of homeless men and women. He left them quickly once realising. He said he would report them to the authorities later, but he highly doubted he would. It would just give him more paperwork.

Hawkeye and Mustang had barely exchanged words as they were so focused on the mission. As Mustang walked ahead quickly she watched his back and scanned the area, preparing herself for a surprise attack.

When they reached their 10th warehouse, sobbing could be heard from outside. Signifying that this could be the place where Garand was hiding out. Mustang pulled Hawkeye away from the entrance.

"I'll call for reinforcements, you scan the area around the warehouse for alternative entrance and exit routes." He whispered quickly, before taking out his portable radio. Hawkeye left quickly and moved silently around the warehouse. She couldn't find another door but she found a small window which she stealthily peeked through. Riza saw Garand inside and several other women tied up. Finally confirming his position she ran back to Mustang who had finished making the call.

"He's inside with several civilians."

"Hostages?"

"Possibly." She looked towards Roy. "Your orders?"

"You ensure that the hostages make it out safely. Leave Garand's capture to me." In response he pulled his gloves tighter. He didn't really need to wear them anymore but he wore them anyway just as a back up. The two took a step towards the door so that they stood directly in front. "And don't die."

With that the two kicked the warehouse doors opened and pulled pointed their weapons at Garand immediately. However he stood up on a platform, sword drawn and placed directly next to one of the hostages neck.

"Drop your weapon Garand!" Roy shouted at him. The Garand's actions reminded him of when Hawkeye's throat was slit, and he could still remember clearly how much blood was shed. He had to be careful not to provoke Garand.

"Release the hostage!" Hawkeye shouted out. She noticed the three women tied up in the corner and edged slightly towards them.

"Stay away from them or I'll do it!" He pulled the sword closer.

Hawkeye stopped immediately and moved away. Mustang nodded at her. "Come on Garand you don't want to do this. She's innocent, what has she ever done to you?"

"Nothing! But in the future she will ruin lives for others! She'll end up killing all those dear to her!" He screamed back. "I'm just protecting the rest of us." Mustang moved closer to the platform.

"You don't know that, just give her a chance. Let her go." He tried to speak softly but his voice was just filled his anger and disgust. To think this man could have killed Hawkeye right under his nose infuriated him.

"I'll make a trade."

"A trade?"

He spoke calmly. "Yes, this woman for Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Roy froze. Why did people always use Hawkeye as a bargaining chip? He thought quickly looking back and forth between Hawkeye and Garand and the girl. He didn't want to let Hawkeye anywhere near that monster, but he needed to ensure the safety of the hostage. A slight nod from Riza made him make his decision.

He looked angrily at Garand. "Okay." Hawkeye and Mustang walked closer. "But the hostage goes free first."

"I don't think you're in a position to bargain _Major._ Send the lieutenant over first." Roy looked Riza in the eyes one last time and then reluctantly let her walk towards the monster that had been attacking her in secret.

When she was within a metre of Garand, he shouted at her. "Get on your knees! Hands on your head!" She complied with him as he came closer to her. He held the hostage tightly as he began throwing Hawkeye's guns off the platform. When he was sure she was no longer armed. He pushed the hostage away. She ran towards Roy who instructed her to free her co-workers. Garand placed his sword beside her neck.

"Let's finish what I started." He whispered in her ear. Whilst being distracted he failed to notice Roy on the platform and was heading quickly towards them. His footsteps grabbed Garand's attention and he turned.

With his attention distracted, Hawkeye wrapped her hand around the sword handle.

_**Cliff hanger oooooh **_

**I'd just like to say last chapters reviews made me happy, it's nice to see you guys enjoying this story.**

**Finished writing the Garand and Olivier one shot. YAY. Not my best work but I hope you guys enjoy it when I get around to posting it.**

**Until next time :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**First of all I'd like to make a huge apology, I would have had this up last night but because of school (and the D. grayman box set I just got) I got distracted. Also I still see that people have a problem with how ooc Riza was earlier however the plot wouldn't move forward if she simply "kicked Garand's ass".**

**Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's the big climax.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 19<strong>

Hawkeye got a firm grip on part of the sword handle and began pulling it roughly away from Garand. He fought back trying to pull it back towards him. Then he got an idea. He began to push the sword towards Hawkeye but tilted it upward slightly so that the blade would eventually be forced into her neck. Hawkeye pushed harder against it trying to get it towards Garand, but she wasn't strong enough. The sword was getting closer to her than him.

Seeing what was going on Mustang did what he could. He snapped his fingers pinpointing the attack towards the sword. The flames heated up the sword handle rapidly and soon became unable to hold. They both let go of the sword and it crashed to the ground. In one swift movement, Hawkeye swept the sword off the platform and knocked Garand onto his back. She grabbed his collar and kept punching him hard. After several punches his nose began bleeding and her hand was also bleeding. She vented all her anger and frustration over the past months. Riza couldn't stop she was in a trance, she wanted him to hurt more than she hurt. Her pupils had dilated and she screamed in anger as she hit him.

Roy watched cautiously from the side, deep down he knew he should stop her, but he just couldn't bring himself to. She deserved some retribution for all the suffering she had been through. That was until she pulled her gun that Garand had failed to find and pointed it at the centre of his forehead. Her hand shook as she pointed it.

Roy grabbed her arm. "Stop Riza! This won't solve anything." She didn't turn at all she just held her ground and watched Garand's cold surprised eyes. She saw some fear in those eyes. "Riza! Please just put the gun down! Don't soil you hands with this monster's blood!" With that she lowered her hand, whilst watching relief quickly wash through Garand. However that look of relief vanished quickly and was replaced by pain when Riza shot him in the leg, to prevent him escaping. She stood calmly the smoke from her gun still visible. Roy went up to him and pulled him up by the collar before landing a hard punch in his face.

"You deserved that for everything you've done." Roy muttered glaring down at him.

"If you're going to kill me hurry up and get it over with. Don't pretend as if you're good people just because you're trying to spare lives _now_. You've already taken so many lives, why would one more make such a difference." He spoke nonchalantly and there wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes anymore.

Hawkeye turned to Mustang nervously. He shook his head. "I should kill you. I _want _to kill you. I should burn you until you have suffered so much pain death would be a blessing." He sighed. "But I've realised that I can't just go around burning everything that hurts the people I love. Problems don't just go away because it's been burnt. You need to face it head on and deal with it in a mature way."

The silence filled the room. "I have a question."

"I'm guessing you want to know why." He laughed to himself. Mustang and Hawkeye looked at each other questioning his sanity. "I'll tell you why. Why you women ruin lives and why you shouldn't live." He took a deep breath as he recounted the memories which caused him the most pain.

(-)

"Back in Ishval, I was a lieutenant Colonel at the time. I had my own platoon to command. Among us was this young woman, Verona I think her name was." There was a brief smile but it vanished almost instantly. "The guys loved her, she was such a laugh and so caring and on top of that she was a good soldier. She was a sniper, just like you." He turned to look at Hawkeye briefly. "She protected us from above while we went through with the extermination, but it was only a matter of time before she assassinated the wrong person. She killed one of the high Ishvalen priests and in the same mission 5 of our men were captured."

He paused briefly to sit up. "The Ishvalens wanted to bargain with us. They would return our five men, if we gave up the one women who had killed their leader. It was my decision and I wanted to agree with the conditions after all five lives could be saved for the price of one. I would have gone through with it if it wasn't for the remaining men in our unit, they begged and pleaded not to go through with the trade. I put off the decision a while and eventually the five bodies turned up." He was shaking from the memory of finding the five corpses covered in torture marks. He remembered that day as if it was yesterday.

"She killed those men. It was her fault." He shook some more before continuing. "Because of what happened I was called to a meeting with several higher ranking officers. I was away from the main camp for_ only_ 5 hours. But when I got back, I went around trying to find someone, anyone. All I found was bodies and bodies of all my platoon members all in the same area. I assumed they must have caught my men off guard and killed them quickly. There's not a single doubt in my mind about who they were looking for. Verona. Her body wasn't among the others. I think my men gave up their lives to protect her. I thought she'd been captured or something but then I found her." He paused to take a deep breath.

"She was in her tent, hanging by her neck." He shook as he looked into Mustang's eyes. "She _committed suicide_. After everything that she had endured! _We _ had endured! She gave up her own life so easily! And all my men, gave up their lives protecting a _corpse" _Mustang could see the torture and anguish in the man's eyes. "If she wanted to die she could have just given herself up! And then those five men would still be alive. They had families you know!"

"After all that happened I was permanently changed, I could only hate women as I saw them cheat, lie, pretend and ruin lives. They just seemed to poison mankind. I couldn't even hide my hatred from the person I thought I would never hate. I couldn't carry on the way I was before Ishval. It had changed me too much and I took it out on that woman who stayed beside me."

Mustang spoke for the first time, interrupting Garand's story. "A friend once told me that he would take in what he did in Ishval alone and smile while in front of the one he loved."

"You friend must have been strong."

"Yeah." His lips curled slightly as he remembered his best friend. "He was even stronger than me."

"I, on the other hand, didn't have that strength. I let hatred consume me." He stopped speaking and just stared at the ground.

Hawkeye spoke instead. "Why-"

"I killed those women, because I knew they would bring unhappiness and suffering to those around them. I also banned women from the military so that what happened in Ishval wouldn't happen again. No more men would die for the sake of just one woman."

Silence filled the warehouse. The hostages had escaped outside during Garand's flashback so it was only the three of them in one room. Mustang wondered where their back up was. As much as he hated Garand for everything he had done, he could still see what Ishval had done to him and in a way pitied with him.

Hawkeye broke the silence. "Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" Her voice wavered a bit at the end, but still remained firm.

Garand turned to look at her and pushed his glasses higher up his face. "Because you were the same." She looked at Garand confused. "You and Verona both were snipers in the war and you look too much like Merylin." His voice quivered at the name. "You were just like them, but also different. You had what they had and was also more independent and tenacious then they were. So much more different to the women I had killed who begged me to spare their lives. I thought if I could beat you down and crush your spirit you would revert to what they were like. Pathetic and manipulative. You would become what a _real woman_ was like, the type that needed to be exterminated. But you never did."

The three stood for a while not speaking

"You're wrong." Mustang spoke slowly. "There is no such thing as a _real woman_ as they are all different. They all have different personalities and quirks that make them who they are. If everyone was the same, what would be the point of having so many people in this world. Personality, appearance, social status, race and Gender enable the world to be filled with variety, it's what make the world beautiful. And your men, I doubt they regretted protecting her, it was their own decision after all. It was their own free will and you have no right to say their lives were wasted."

Garand sighed loudly and smiled slightly in understanding. "I wish we'd had this conversation earlier." He stood limping and walked towards Mustang arm stretched out to shake his hand. "Perhaps I could have been someone different."

Gun shots rang through the warehouse and Mustang was never able to shake Garand's hand. Blood flooded out of his chest as he stumbled around, until he fell off the platform landing with a thud and a flood of Central soldiers flooded the warehouse. Many ran to check on the status of Mustang and Hawkeye and few others wandered around the warehouse to check to area was safe

Hawkeye and Mustang had gasped in unison. Rushing towards Garand, they jumped off the platform. His windpipe had been shot through as well so they could not make out his words. He reached into his pocket and grasped a piece of paper tightly in his hand. It appeared to be a wedding invitation. It was at this moment that they noticed that Garand was wearing a suit. Maybe he was expecting to die today. He didn't have long left, he himself had already given up fighting, so the two just sat in silence and watched as his eyes slowly shut.

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><p><strong>There you go, all the reasons behind Garand's behaviour. I'm a bit iffy about this chapter so comments would be appreciated.<strong>

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed last time, it was really nice reading your comments.**

**Only the epilogue and the one-shot to go!**


	20. Chapter 20

**It was really intresting to see you guys change your opinions on Garand. That chapter wasn't written for you guys to all of a sudden start liking Garand, it was written to explain his actions. And by it wasn't meant to imply that Garand had it harder in Ishval than Roy and Riza, but it was meant to show the contrast between how the two groups coped with what happened in Ishval.**

**Anyway here you go the Epilogue!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 20<strong>

It had been weeks since the incident Central before the military found someone to contact about Garand's death. That's how Roy and Riza found themselves outside a large apartment in the 15th district of East City.

Incidentally, Fuhrer Grumman had recovered from his illness and began ruling the country once again. Immediately he abolished Act 589, and women were reinstated. He then went on to provide the promotions for the efforts of soldiers on the Promised day and during the Slasher case. Havoc, Breda and Falman were being promoted to First Lieutenants, Furey to Warrant Officer and head of the technology department at Eastern HQ and Hawkeye to Captain. Sergeant Jones had all charges dropped and decided to become a permanent subordinate to Furey in the technology department.

However Grumman was planning to make another change to the military, but this one he would keep secret for a little longer. He planned to abolish the fraternization laws, with a _certain_ couple in mind.

General Mustang was able to get in contact with Emperor Ling and arrange for the railway to be built. The preparations were well under way and on schedule so much that the General decided it was time for him to continue his work in Ishval. Many higher up protested, claiming that they needed someone leading Eastern HQ's at all times. In response the General promised to return to headquarters once every two weeks and run things in the East from Ishval.

Today was his last day in East City before he left for Ishval. The military were throwing a leaving party for him later in the day. But before he left, he had one more job to do.

He knocked again on the door, still waiting for someone to come to the door. He looked at Hawkeye nervously, but was reassured as she smiled.

A pregnant blonde girl opened the door, looking mildly confused.

"Merylin Harding, is it?" Mustang could easily recognise her from the photograph.

"Well it's Merylin Watson now, but that used to be my name." She smiled at them.

"Can we come in? There's something we need to talk to you about." She moved aside to let them in.

They found themselves sat on her couch sipping tea. She wobbled steadily into a comfortable armchair opposite them.

"Did you know Richard Garand?" Roy asked once she had settled.

"Yes." She spoke nervously.

"Well we came by to inform you of his death." He paused briefly. "I'm sorry for your loss." He knew the words would mean very little, but still felt obliged to say them.

She shook slightly, clutching a handkerchief tightly in her hand as a tear slid down her face. She wiped it then offered a sad smile. She nodded in thanks, for the slight attempt at comfort he gave.

"Did you know him?"

"We worked with him." She nodded then stopped when she saw Hawkeye, then pointed at both of them.

"You were there that night. At his apartment, helping him get home." Roy and Riza looked at each other confused as to how she knew the information. Merylin bowed her head. "Thank you for making sure he got home safely, he always was a handful when he got drunk." She looked down at her hands again before looking up again. "Did he ever talk about me?"

"Not really, but he said you two were close." Mustang spoke with no expression on his face.

She sighed and clutched her swollen stomach. "We were. I was still in university when he proposed. We were so happy back in those days, but they didn't last long. He was sent off to Ishval not long after but he promised that when he got back, we would get married." She shifted her feet nervously. "When he got back, he had changed. He didn't want to look at me or talk to me. But that wasn't the worse part, he started…to get v-violent. H-he would hit me and I would hate myself for it, because I couldn't understand what he had been through in Ishval. He wouldn't share his feelings with anyone. " She wiped away another tear that had fallen.

"I eventually left him after calling him one word," She paused. "A monster." She sighed deeply. "That night. When you were helping him get home. My fiancé, at the time, and I were going to visit him for the first time in 8 years, but seeing him the way he was, we decided to come back later. I saw him the next morning and left him with an invitation to my wedding in Central, but he never came. I didn't expect him to, but I kindof hoped."

Mustang pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket and gave it to the woman.

Her eyes widened. "Where did you get this?"

"Garand held it in his final moments and I think he was at your wedding, you just might have missed him. He was wearing a tuxedo the day he died." She picked it up and cried against it. Roy and Riza looked away to give her some privacy but she turned her attention back to Riza. She was staring at the sword scar through her hand.

"Did he hit you as well?" She asked staring right at Riza. Noticing the sudden scrutiny Hawkeye nodded slightly.

"I'm sorry." She muttered between tears. Riza went over to her and patted her back. "I'm so sorry."

(-)

Roy and Riza found themselves wandering around the public party unsure of what to do next. There were photographers all over the place and Mustang didn't dare touch Hawkeye in case they saw or caught anything on camera that could be scandalous. He still worried about the Fraternization laws.

He decided to walk around and congratulate his subordinates on their promotions and say goodbye to them as he was leaving with only Hawkeye. Like always Riza followed close behind. They both stopped abruptly as they saw a flash. A sneaky photographer had taken the picture. He was still grinning while waiting for the Polaroid camera to print the picture despite the glares he got from the two officers. He then handed the photo to the General and muttered. "Why don't you two smile for a while?"

A small smile crept onto Roy's face as he saw the picture. Riza came and looked it over.

"Looks good." Roy spoke louder so she could hear over the crowds.

"We can send that one over to the Elrics. After all once we get back to Ishval, there'll be little time for things like this." She held onto the photo tightly.

"Last time in Ishval, we barely had time for sleep." Roy sighed. "But there's a lot of work to be done. Anyway there's no more higher ups telling me what I can and can't do, _I'm_ the boss." A sly grin quickly formed on his face. "Besides, at least I have my trusty Lieutenant to keep me company and we don't

have to be as secretive about our relationship."

Riza also smiled in reply. "It's Captain now, Colonel."

His smirk grew at her mistake. "I guess you'll always be Lieutenant to me and I'll always be your Colonel."

"I guess so."

"There's one more thing I still have to ask you, Riza." He moved quickly to stand in front of her and stop her from walking. The crowds continued to push pass them.

"How much longer do you plan on following me?"

"Until I'm old, wrinkled and dying." She spoke bluntly.

Roy frowned. "So you won't stand beside me as an equal until then."

"If that is your order I'll stand by your side as an equal." She saluted but amusement could be heard in her voice.

"That is my order." He nodded and she muttered a "Yes sir." Back to him.

"Now, how long will you follow _this _order?" He moved to the side so he could walk beside her.

"Until I die." She stared forward. Not daring to look at Roy.

"Even after I become Fuhrer?"

"Even then." She was dead set on her answer, there was no hesitation whatsoever.

"You know you'll be stuck with me forever."

"You'll be stuck with _me _as well." He chuckled.

"Are you sure you won't regret this decision? It's not an order you know."

"I don't regret my decisions." She smiled lightly at him.

He came so close to her face, she could feel his breath on her cheek. "Good answer." Whilst distracted Roy was able to slip the small box into Riza's pocket, without her noticing.

And with that the two carried on the rest of the day like nothing had happened. All the while, Riza remained completely oblivious to the ring was embedded into that box that he had slipped into her pocket, that would one day that its place on the forth finger of her left hand

**The End**

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><p><strong>It pains me to let this story go, it's been a fun journey and I hope you guys enjoyed it. (I felt I should write a long monologue explaining all my feelings and stuff, but my mind is blank and thinking about other things, so this brief sentence is all you get. Sums up my character as well quiet and simple)<strong>

**On another note the Garand/Olivier oneshot will be published in 2 or 3 weeks depending on time. I also want to pad it out some more, so any suggestions would be nice. Also do you guys want some Royai in it? See you guys then!**


	21. Bonus: Oneshot

**Bonus Chapter**

**Takes place around chapter 13 What would have happened if Olivier came to Eastern HQ**

**Just so you know, yes it is short and there's only a smidge of Royai, but I'm seriously lacking inspiration. I was going to post it up tomorrow, since it's my birthday *o*, but I'm at work all night so that can't happen.**

**Anyway Enjoy!**

Olivier Armstrong sat in that meeting and she was pretty sure her eyes hadn't failed her. That new General, well she assumed he was a newbie since she had never seen or heard of him, she didn't bother learning newbie's names unless they would have some use to her. Mustang was an exception however, he was _that_ annoying that she would never be able to forget his name. That newbie, purposely pushed coffee over Hawkeye and that silly clod Mustang tried to help her and nearly went against superior orders to do so. She mentally laughed, maybe he wasn't a complete ass kisser after all.

She watched as a flustered Hawkeye hurried out of the room. For the rest of the meeting she could feel someone watching her. She subtlety turned and caught the culprit. That newbie general who appeared out of nowhere, glaring. His eyebrows pointing sharply. Olivier quickly shot him a glare and he backed down. Clearing his throat slightly but pretending to have interest in the meeting. She glanced over at Mustang and noted his shifty eyes. She could almost swear that he was eyeing up the door. When the meeting had finished he had dashed out the door before anyone else.

Olivier laughed at the fool and slowly began packing her papers up. Eventually she and the newbie were the only ones left in the meeting room.

He walked over her snobbishly. "You must be the Queen of the North. Major General Armstrong." Olivier was quite insulted he didn't offer his hand not that she would have shook it anyway.

"And you are?" He opened his mouth and she waved her hand. "It doesn't matter fresh meat." She quickly picked up her files and began heading towards the exit her head held high.

"I think it does matter, considering I'm in charge of Eastern Headquarters."

She laughed. "Ha! You only got your position because that fool fell off his high horse." She tried to leave but he grabbed her arm.

"I haven't introduced myself yet though, woman." He said venomously into her ear.

"Neither have I." Olivier stopped moving and struggling, long enough for Garand to loosen his grip on her arm. She turned swiftly and shoved her fist deep into his gut. This caused him to curl over and left him defenceless. She kicked him as if he were a three-legged chair, so he lay on the floor.

"Listen you maggot. I am Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong, Queen of the Briggs fortress. Not just some _woman_. Worms like you need no introduction." Her lip twitched in annoyance and she walked out of the room with confidence.

(-)

"I see that idiot Mustang finally got you into one of those dreaded things." She looked at Hawkeye clothed in the dreaded miniskirt. She had slipped into the "mustang team" office to visit Hawkeye and get to the bottom of what she saw at the meeting.

Hawkeye looked down at herself, clearly embarrassed. "Could be worse though I suppose." Olivier muttered reboosting Hawkeye's confidence slightly.

"I didn't come here to talk about the upstart and his disgusting fantasies. I came to talk about that other arrogant maggot, the one keen on burning people with coffee."

Riza's eyes widened, she had hoped no one had noticed it. "Don't hold back anything. Tell me everything." She looked at the ground undecided. "Whatever dirt he has on you _or that other fool, _it doesn't matter. Just tell me everything." Her voice was firm but encouraging. Enough that Hawkeye slowly began telling her of the life the past few months.

(-)

By the time Hawkeye had finished, Olivier had already unsheathed her sword and was heading for the door. Hawkeye tried to stop her.

"I'll go finish of that sexist son of a bitch myself." She'd opened the door. "Did you tell Mustang?" Hawkeye shook her head.

Olivier shook her head as well in response. "You should tell him. He could torture him in ways that I can't." With that she headed down the corridors in search of Garand. She found him speaking to a lower ranking officer.

"You!" She pointed her sword at him. "I challenge you to a duel." She smirked slightly.

He laughed in disbelief. "Like you can beat me. A lowly woman. Do you even know who I am?"

"I don't know nor do I care. I just demand a duel."

"Oh, what makes you think I'll comply with your demands woman?"

"A refusal just proves you're not man enough to face me. Even that fool with his head in the clouds agreed to face me one time."

He merely smirked in response.

(-)

That's how the two ended up on Eastern HQ's training grounds, a large crowd gathered around them all watching. Including Hawkeye, Mustang and the team. Hawkeye had confessed to Mustang about what had been happening. He had taken it extremely harshly, he himself wanted to fry Garand into little pieces but wanted Olivier to torture his ass, because he knew that would ultimately humiliate him the most.

They had both unsheathed their swords ready, when Mustang started shouting.

"Make sure to kick his ass Armstrong. If you do I'll get you dinner, all on me. And as many flowers as you want." He smirked slightly at the end, his arm still tightly around Hawkeye's shoulders.

"I'm not doing this for you, you moron. Don't think so highly of yourself. I'm doing this to prove a point."

The referee blew his whistle and she tightened her grip on the sword. "That women are even stronger than men."

She dashed forward quickly dodging the jab that Garand had sent forward. She used her sword to hit the hand holding the sword. Blood gushed out but he refused to loosen his grip. He cried out in pain the used his other hand to grip the bleeding hand which was still holding the sword.

"Is that all you've got. I heard rumours you were heartless-" Olivier interrupted his rambling by sending the sword towards a head attack. He had to shut up and dodge quickly to escape her quick jabs. Garand hadn't attacked in a while due to the pain in his hand.

"Come on, fight like a man!" She taunted him causing him to rush towards her, his sword raised. She was quicker however, she ducked down and swiped at his feet knocking him flat on his face and outside the ring.

She spat on him. "You lose. Anyone could kick you ass, woman or not." She wandered off towards the crowd and went straight up to Mustang.

"You owe me dinner."

Her back was turned and she failed to noticed Garand rushing towards her, sword raised above is head and blood dripping down his face. Other soldiers called out to warn her. She turned to find he had already been incapacitated. Hawkeye had fired a bullet through his leg, sinking him to the ground.

"I believe you own _me _a dinner now, Sir." She said smirking at Mustang. He returned it.

"No problem." He nodded. "But later. _We've_ got business to take care of." He referred to him and his subordinates. Armstrong shrugged and walked off proudly.

Team Mustang crowded around the Garand cowering on the floor. Mustang ducked his head low down to speak into his ear.

"Let's see how you like it when you get tortured, you sexist pig." He grinned evilly and did the others, Havoc brandished the rope enthusiastically as Mustang pulled on his alchemic gloves.

The groundskeeper after hearing repeated muffled screams and shouts, came out later to find Garand stripped to his underwear and wrapped around a log over a fire, an apple shoved into his mouth. Just like a roast pig.

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><p><strong>The END<strong>

**That's it! No more. I really enjoyed writing this piece and it makes me sad to see it go. I have started working on a new piece but that won't be done for a looooong time, considering my mindset right now. **

_Thank you to:_

_Charlotte Hawkeye, __Lalalupin__, __InuNaruPokeAlchemist__, __PirateNinjaAssassinIII__, __DuoGundam4__, __fivecentimeterspersecond__, __Thieving Alchemist, xXxRizaHawkeyexXx , hawkeyeflame1921, __PokemonFreak90__, __PrinceVeggie__, __Knight of Balinor__, __AceOvSpades__, __Hotaru-Naichingeru__, __TheNinjaAlchemist95__, __KuroiRyoko__, __Royal Duke Armadilloer III__, __VivaNewVegas__, __Resident Asian__, __FalseFacts__, ButterflyArtist, __HopelessDeath-73__, __PirateNinjaAssassinIII__, __Kittens Hellfire__, __NSA88__ , Shanator, Kari-Kateora_ and many others for reviewing along this journey. In particular those who reviewed the last chapter. I was extremely, touched and hope that you'll support any future fics I may publish.

_Thank you for reading, until next time._


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